Peace through Unity towards a Thriving World for all of Life
Practicing Truth
Kathy Newburn
In one of the sutras of Patanjali we’re told that “all things can be known in the vivid light of the intuition.” The ability to know, however, is a challenge and one which is unfortunately not always the end product of intelligence. We’re living in a time of such constant change and disruption that it is difficult to shift through the many and varied points of view, to distinguish the real from the unreal and then, in the light of our own inner process formulate our own understanding. We can always be mistaken and in our perceptions.
On the path, the long and never-ending path, we move from knowledge and the ability to use the intellect, to discrimination, and on to a cultivated non-attachment through which the clear light of the soul begins to filter through, illumining the mind. New light asks us to step outside the bounds of our previous understanding and become open and alert to that which is often distant, just hovering upon the horizon. Through this means we come to sense those ideas which are dawning yet unclear because of the surrounding mists which always accompany the break of day. That which we sense might be upsetting for it can challenge our fixed understanding or the ideals that we cherish and have cherished for a long, long time.
In Triangles we work each day with the task of building the new world, bisecting the squares, reconfiguring them into triangles, into that which is the symbol of the soul. The triangles are challenging–a challenging interface to a world constructed of squares–and this includes all the rather block-headed aspects of ourselves.
This ability to question, to reach into new ground within consciousness is precisely what is being asked of us, particularly during this incredible transition period through which we’re passing.A wise teacher once shared his understanding of how to approach the new truths, the new understanding, that is precipitating–holding in mind, of course, that these truths are ageless and simply new to us with our limited understanding. The teacher wrote, “If the teaching conveyed calls forth a response from the illumined mind of the worker in the world, and brings a flashing forth of his intuition, then let that teaching be accepted. But not otherwise. If the statements meet with eventual corroboration, or are deemed true under the test of the Law of Correspondences, then that is well and good. But should this not be so, let not the student accept what is said.”
And surely such words must also apply to the objective world, encouraging us to use our judgment to filter all that is being released through all sides of the media. Through this means we come to practice truth in daily life. We practice truth as an exercise each day, we do not yet know truth for what it truly is and will not know for a long time to come..
As we become more skilled at practicing truth we eventually will become what the Buddha called some of his followers who were beginning to go deeper into their practice-- he called them the “stream enterers” for they were entering into the stream and the current of life. The seeker on the way comes to understand that this new current will often take him in the opposite direction to the way in which he had been traveling for aeons of time, leading into uncharted territory. But as he takes the plunge, eventually the waters which previously appeared cold and dark now appear as refreshing and the seeker begins to drink deeply of their life-giving sustenance. Then the seeker begins to notice the others who are also following this way--they begin to appear to his view and then the way is not so dark and solitary. The inner light is quickening and becomes the guiding principle– thus enlarging the horizon of his life to ever wider fields of existence.