Monday, November 10, 2014

The Dirty World of Truth

Did you ever notice how powerful sometimes a single word is? No I'm not talking about the power of yes, please or thank you rather the power of the word 'truth'. It is an amazing word in that it can be used to create an illusion of belief followed by sheeple or used as a stinger missile to punch th rough the illusion to begin with. Yet the word is often invoked and bandied about because to me it no longer has any worthwhile substance.

For example ever since I began my first forays into the murky occult world back in ‘87, I began noticing how people invoke the word 'truth' or its alternative 'true' into sentences. I never realized before how often many born again preachers invoke its use in a given sermon and then how often such sermons are used on a regular basis. The word has such power for most people because they are often seekers looking for something real and meaningful in their lives and very often they see and experience much falsity, lies and deceit that when the word 'truth' is evoked, the seekers expectations of belief begin to manifest.

Then there are those involved in the various magical religions and metaphysical disciplines who have taken a cue from those straw hat preachers and began to use it in their own sermons, editorials, lectures and communications. These mystics have come to invoke the power of the word 'truth' or 'true' in an attempt to prove that what they are saying has more or greater validity simply by its use. "The true origins of the Qabala are here today in....", "The real truth behind the Ouija board is that...." or my favorite “So and so doesn’t speak the truth because I know blah-blah-blah...” and these are just a few examples of how metaphysical people invoke truth.

Then you have the new age marketers. (Ugh!) 

"The true method of spirit contact revealed!"
"The true formula of elixir of life for the first time!"
"Find the true path for your inward journey here!"
"Learn to speak words of true power!"
and etcetera ad nauseam.

Sadly wherever there is a buck to be made, truth will always be subjective to the dollar sign. A perfect example is to look at the court system. Attorneys argue and twist facts, details and accounts in the name of truth and justice. Pffft. The court is supposed to be the bastion where truth is holy, right? How often has justice been blind in the name of truth? Exactly my point.

Frankly I hate the word and it's bastard cousin 'true'. Not that I am all for lying, far from it, however the words are used wrongly so often and in such careless regard that it no longer holds any power for me and my sensibilities. When someone say, "This is the truth!" I sarcastically say, "Yeah? Yours and everyone else's bub!" I say that because truth is subjective. There is no infinite 'truth' any more than there is any sort of karma. It's all a bade up pile of horse shit.

Now in some day to day living there are cases of truth such as who hit whom first in a fight or auto accident. However while a judge may decide who is responsible, s/he knows as a judge that there are always mitigating circumstances leading up to such a thing. For instance in a fight there is always a disagreement to begin with followed by words, then hard feelings, then self-righteous anger and finally the clashing of fisticuffs. We may say, “Well Joe threw the first punch!” and unless someone else says that Tom goaded Joe into doing so, it may appear as if Joe is a bully. Often among witnesses, an attorney and a judge must try to weed out the BS from what caused the clash to start with and how it progressed. Not doing so can cause the guilty to walk away free even when both parties are rightfully guilty.

I even catch myself using the damn word in some of my writings and it disgusts me. It's a word that has been shat on for centuries and tarnished to the point where excrement has more use to me than truth because with excrement at least I can use it on a garden. I've found the term to be so repulsive that I often find it in my writings and look for synonyms or other words that fit the general idea of my point so that I can toss the truth word out the door.

Years ago I used to say and still believe that "Truth is subjective to one's dominant paradigm" meaning that you will find truth in what you believe to be true. There we go with that other word again, 'believe' or 'belief'. There's a scary word as well and truth to me is the scariest. Look at how politicians manipulate millions with their version of the truth. My late friend and mentor Ron Parshley used to say "There are three sides to every story: yours, mine and the truth." The problem is seldom is the truth so easily discovered let alone in plain sight. It’s always buried under layers of nonsense, foolishness and neglect. I would venture to say that the truth is tarnished by whatever the angle is of whover holds it. Your truth may not be my truth and thus it can be subjective for what you find to be true even when it may not hold true for others.

There are very few empirical truths out there when compared to the myriad of situations where truth is invoked. Science often claims they have empirical truth and in chemistry and physics, perhaps but then there are matters where such truth does not always jive like quantum physics or possibly the nature of black holes where physics as we know it now may not hold true 100% of the time. We don't know everything as there is always more and more discovery so I give science a free pass because the bulk of scientists realize that what we know today as scientific truth may change tomorrow when we discover something that just doesn't run true to something previously believed to be truth.

In the end, I actually detest the word. Using it in this article rankles my sensibilities because I realize my own little universe does not hold the truth of the world in my hands and I have to trust (which is another scary word) myself to deal with things that are right, accurate and just but not truth. The best way to determine what you find is true or not for you is to simply experiment. Thessalonians 5:21 “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” is a worthwhile piece of advice that I have tried to cling to since I first head it years ago. Proof requires work and it's not something to be overlooked unless you want someone else to determine your truth for you.