How to Recognize the Truth

Many of us are on a search for truth. But how will we know who has the truth when we find them? Here are a few keys that I've found that you may find helpful.
-The Truth will not be ashamed of itself. After all the truth speaks for itself right? Only those who are untruthful need to hide their meaning.
-Truth will show love to all. Why love and not just tolerance, or even hatred of those opposed to the truth? The Truth must accept anyone who embraces it, otherwise it is not a universal truth.
-Which brings me to the next point: The Truth will be universal. If something is true for one person and not the next then it is not the truth.
-The Truth will have detractors. Anytime the truth comes out, those who have been lying will do what they can to silence it. So just because people disagree does not mean it isn't true. In fact it enhances Truth by allowing others to see the lies in full light.
-Truth must be timeless. Facts and figures can change, but Truth does not. In fact, Truth will often make more sense over time, both in our individual understanding and over time in society.
-Truth will look to the past. If the principles of a teaching could never work in the past, why would they work now? If a changing society can change a truth it therefore is not universal and loses it's Truthfulness.
-The Truth will make you happy when you live it's principles. Everyone is seeking happiness. There are many paths people seek to obtain it, but the true path will bring happiness to those who follow it's principles faithfully.
-The Truth will hurt. It will pierce those who are not following it to the core.
-The Truth will make sense. When you are calm and rational, the truth will have a ring of clarity. This is because deep down we know it to be true.
-The Truth will not be a simple product of man. Truth has to dispense from somewhere higher than man or it will lose its universality.
Feel free to add your own qualifications. Then take a look at your beliefs and weigh them against the list. If you find a discrepancy, it may be time to rethink what you know to be true.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Wash-Out

Have you ever watched as a drop of dye was added to clear water? It's remarkable the way it diffuses and ends up influencing a large area around it. What happens when you add a second? Still makes a difference, but it isn't as poignant as the first. If you keep adding drops, each successive one makes a smaller and smaller difference. At some point you could dump an entire bottle in and no one would notice or care.
Now why is this relevant in today's world? One large answer is swearing. I remember vividly the only time I ever heard my father swear (to be fair, it was not in anger but as an explanation). But when what should be a rarity becomes a common occurrence, the meaning is lost. The people who swear the most are the people who cannot use it for making a strong point. What they want to say gets lost amidst the occurrences of the past.
Now swearing isn't the only example of this: I have the same problem at work, in politics and in many other situations.
At work we get calls so many times saying "This is urgent! We really need this to get out or this customer will be in shutdown!" So many times we get another call from that same person: "Never-mind, cancel all that work you did, since the customer doesn't really need it now." How many times does that happen before the trust relationship is broken?
We elect officials to represent us, or reelect them, and they make promises to us and do not deliver. This happens all around America, to the point that Congress has approval ratings in the teens. That means that 80% of Americans do not like the job that Congress is doing. Why then do we elect people that seem to maintain the status quot or make it worse? And when we finally elect people who will stand up for their principles, they get ridiculed and mocked publicly. The messages of many congressman has gotten washed out, and we know it! Yet it continues to happen.
Now I urge you to rethink what an emergency is. To rethink what being angry means and what points you want you or those who represent you to make, then reserve your choicest words and reserves for those situations that need it most. Don't let what's important get washed out by a sea of redundancy.

Power and Responsibility

Power inevitably leads to corruption unless it is tempered by Responsibility. There are two kinds of responsibility; one is far superior to the other. The first and best approach is an inside-out responsibility. One we feel every day, inside, which leads to outward actions. I love to see the few who have it on the basketball court. The guy who raises his hand when he fouls his opponent, calling for justice to be done, even when it was not seen by the authority figure (the ref). The other can also blatantly be seen in sports. When someone punches another athlete straight in the face, then looks around as if nothing happened, hoping that he doesn't get caught. This is outside-in responsibility, and it is far less effective.
While these actions are sometimes horribly obvious in sports, and in other well publicized media heydays, their importance in everyday life has been somewhat lost. We shirk our work and pass it off to someone else. We blame our mistakes on anything we can, but all our successes were by our own actions. We allow officials who have not shown restraint to remain in office and spend our taxes (and considerably more than what they bring in). We cry out for more jobs, but don't take the risks ourselves to create them.
This principle has been lost in much of society, and we need to work to bring it back. Instead of shunning correction we must seek it. We must learn from the past, from our own and those of family, friends, fellow citizens and history. When we can no longer see the truth about ourselves, we are lost. Let us all stand and raise our hands and admit willingly: I did it. Whether by my action or inaction it was me. When we do so we not only improve ourselves, but our society. Take a stand!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Nature's Way: Just because it happens in nature does not make it right.

Human nature is an interesting thing. It can lead some to devote their entire lives, unselfishly giving of their time and talents to those less fortunate. It often leads to other actions. Brutal, selfish and destuctive actions. On the one hand, we desire to serve and build and help. On the other we give in to utterly selfish desires.

We see examples of these behaviours in the other orders of life as well. Lions will commit infanticide, heartlessly killing the children of another male while their mothers watch helplessly. A vampire bat will give a portion of its good meal to a friend who was not able to find food that night.
Which sort of behaviours in nature do we want to encourage in our human society? Just because a particular behaviour can be found in nature does not make it right or good in human society.
Let us not glorify nature and what it brings without understanding what we are doing. Do we want to go back to the depravity and unenlightened stages where we were in the stone age? The whole of human history has been one big fight to conquer the dangers of nature and it's processes. So please do not rationalize your behaviour or that of others just because we have natural impulses to do it. When we do so we are ignoring what it means to be an intelligent human being.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8