Where did it go?
In a day and age where we no longer trust those in authority. Where cops are seen as thugs, where a synonym for a politician is corruption, when those that are considered religious leaders are out of touch with society, and trust is withheld from our neighbors and friends. Where do we turn for truth, guidance or inspiration? Many take to the internet because everything is on Google, isn't it? The issue with finding something of substance online is that you will always find someone or a group of someones there that will validate poor choices, misguided judgment, and misinformation.
Driving home from dropping my eldest son at school I was reminiscing and listening to Macklemore. I thought isn't it odd that I identify truth more with rappers than I do with the religious teachers throughout my life. That Pearl Jam spoke straight to my heart when I couldn't seem to follow what my parents taught me. I started to think about writing a poem along the lines of "Our keepers corrupt and destructive as the man on the mic is respected and trusted". I may still write it, but instead, I decided to blog about it and use this thought for my daily question.
Most responded with finding truth from within. Which is a very good answer. After all, isn't that where all truth comes from. When we hear or read what we consider truth or that we agree with instantly a feeling rushes over us. Sometimes more powerful than others. The most powerful is when it's a thought only we thought we had and now there is someone speaking it. I believe this emotional response is the fleeting moment of not feeling alone walking amongst the masses. The moment when we feel connected. They are rare, but it helps us feel apart of something greater.
To answer my own question I would say truth begins from within. It starts as a thought that we rattle around in our conscious mind. We attempt to poke holes in our thought until that thought becomes a theory. Until, without provocation, someone validates our theory. The more validation of this theory the stronger the truth becomes. Here is an example. As a child I thought "I should be kind to others". The thought came in and I attempted to find reasons for years to not be kind. In the end through trial and error, I learned that when you are kind to others they tend to want to be kind to you. That you make friends and can accomplish more working with others. This theory has been validated time and time again by many sources. It is now a truth in my conscious and subconscious mind.
The more complex truths have mainly come from songs I've heard or books I've read. In the end, just like the internet, we are a mass of information containing both truth and false information. We have access to both and have no way of knowing what is actually true. The truth like our reality is seemingly infinite. We could never know all the truth. This leaves us always seeking and that is what I intend to do. I will leave the possibility open that all my truths could be wrong and the more I learn the more I realize I know nothing at all.
I Love You All
I leave you with a couple of songs/poems I feel contain a lot of truth in my reality. I hope you enjoy them.
Call Me by My True Names
--by Thich Nhat Hanh (Jul 13, 2015)
Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.
Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.
I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and
death of all that are alive.
I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time
to eat the mayfly.
I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.
I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda.
I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.
I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my hands,
and I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to, my people,
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.
My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all walks of life.
My pain is like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.
Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.
Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.
On Pain
Kahlil Gibran
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.
Much of your pain is self-chosen.
It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.
Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:
For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,
And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.
My Universe
By The Cynical Optimist
Energy cannot be created and cannot be destroyed
Energy can only be transformed
Thus energy must be eternal
Energy is the building block for everything
Everything you see
Everything you touch
Everything you smell
Everything you feel
The smallest one celled organism
The largest living organism
From a blade of grass
To the furthest star
Energy is the connection that binds everything together
I am energy
We are energy
Human’s minds are limited
We cannot comprehend infinity
We all understand a portion of the infinite
Everyone’s understanding is right
Trace anything back in time and it always begins with one
A family tree always starts with one
A virus or disease always starts with one
The greatest journey always begins with one step
All achievements and inventions start with a single idea
The law of nature always leads back to one
All this energy throughout the entire universe
Must have been contained in one being
Before the beginning of time
This whitish blue dot
The size of an atom
Contained all the energy in the entire universe
All consciousness existed in this atom
This single atom was very lonely
Floating around in nothingness
Or not moving at all
This loneliness caused the dot to scream out a word
The word caused the atom to split
And BANG!!!
God and Satan were created
They discussed what that one word was
They argued about the word's meaning
Over billions upon billions of years
In order to convince the other
They created us and this universe
Time is a human concept
Time is relative
Time does not actually exist
Space and time are linked
Space does not exist
The trick here is
There is no two
We are one
Everything is one
Without you I am nothing
That single word spoken
Was
LOVE
Love is the true meaning
Love will set you free
Love is the hardest thing to accept
Yet is the only thing
We cannot live without
This is my universe
This can be our universe
Love
Understanding
Humility
Moderation
Are the keys to this universe
Use them
Join me
I love you