John 18: 37-38: Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
John 14: 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” Marcus Aurelius
Who among men hold fast to truth? What is truth? This is the eternal question in a world dominated by lies. We lie to ourselves to ease our conscience. We lie to get ahead and to gain materially. We live in truth when it is convenient to us. Most of us sacrifice the truth in our times of travail, in order to save what our heart is invested in and what we covet the most. We even refuse to acknowledge the most important truths about the One; lying in order to construct a god in our image. “God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in Spirit and truth.”
John 8: 44: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
So how does the Human apprehend the truth? From where does the Human find the the central integrity of the heart? How does the Human become authentic as we tread upon the earth?
John 16:10: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he (she) will guide you into all the truth; for he (she) will not speak on his (her) own authority, but whatever he (she) hears he (she) will speak, and he (she) will declare to you the things that are to come.”
Psalms 25:5: Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are my God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
“Bhagavad Gita means “Song of the Spirit,” the divine communion of truth-realization between man and his Creator, the teachings of Spirit through the soul, that should be sung unceasingly….” Self Realization Fellowship
Bhagavad Gita 7.3: “Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.“
This is so off-putting to human reasoning. If I become perfect, surely I would know the truth? When the Spirit, the Shekinah, the Holy Spirit is allowed within the Temple of your heart, your soul is transformed and you become an authentic Human. Perfection is a straight-jacket on the soul…as proven by the Christ’s magnification of the woman Mary Magdalene. To become perfect is to become static; a Human held fast and chained from reaching down to elevate others, because we glory in our self-righteousness. Love is imperfect, it is asymmetrical, it is an act of self-emptying, and act of empathy toward the Other.
And all traditions tell us that God is essentially “love.” Love slays the Truth by apprehending the potential of “non-truth”; by looking into the soul of the Human, and seeing the potential for transformation that does not line up with the “truth.” The One sees the potential in the Human, even when all indicators of a worldly view see no potential for the soul. When we unite with the One, the black and white nature of “the truth” becomes transparent instead, and falls away and we become ruled by love rather than judgement. The Holy Spirit has been called the advocate of the Human. Our mother, the Spirit, defends us and upholds us in all truth, even as we sometimes wander into darkness. We are called to love what we would normally find abhorrent. We are called to do this by the One who descended into out hearts and the Divine Feminine that unites within our heart with the One; which leads to all truth.
We can only know the “truth” when we a fully integrated spiritually with the One. When the Human and the One, become One in Truth, by their co-joined nature. It is impossible to “know” the truth unless we are united as One, with the source of Truth.
So we as the Human can only know the truth when we observe the world with the heart and eyes of the One!
This is truth:
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7: The Knowledge of Ultimate Truth. Knowledge of the Absolute.
1: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Now hear, O son of Pṛthā, how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to Me, you can know Me in full, free from doubt. 2: I shall now declare unto you in full this knowledge, both phenomenal and numinous. This being known, nothing further shall remain for you to know. 3: Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth. 4: Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego – all together these eight constitute My separated material energies.
{So if no perfect man can know the truth, or god, does that mean that a “perfect god” would also be separated from the truth? As below so above? Why do we, imperfect humans, demand that our gods be a perfect alabaster statues or perfection? The reason the perfect cannot know the truth, is because perfection slays mercy and love. Its prevents self-emptying; and sacrifice of behalf of the Other. The One as he dwells within the Human, and surrounds the Human with the created order, is self-emptying and sacrificing his power and glory for the sake of his love of the Human. If God were not asymmetrical he|she would be a being of inertia, unable to move, or create or love.}
5: Besides these, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature. 6: All created beings have their source in these two natures. Of all that is material and all that is spiritual in this world, know for certain that I am both the origin and the dissolution. 7: O conqueror of wealth, there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread. 8: O son of Kuntī, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable oṁ in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man. 9: I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire. I am the life of all that lives, and I am the penances of all ascetics.
10: O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the prowess of all powerful men. 11: I am the strength of the strong, devoid of passion and desire. I am sex life which is not contrary to religious principles, O lord of the Bhāratas [Arjuna]. 12: Know that all states of being – be they of goodness, passion or ignorance – are manifested by My energy. I am, in one sense, everything, but I am independent. I am not under the modes of material nature, for they, on the contrary, are within Me. 13: Deluded by the three modes [goodness, passion and ignorance], the whole world does not know Me, who am above the modes and inexhaustible. 14: This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it. 15: Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, who are lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons do not surrender unto Me. 16: O best among the Bhāratas, four kinds of pious men begin to render devotional service unto Me – the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute. 17: Of these, the one who is in full knowledge and who is always engaged in pure devotional service is the best. For I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me. 18: All these devotees are undoubtedly magnanimous souls, but he who is situated in knowledge of Me I consider to be just like My own self. Being engaged in My transcendental service, he is sure to attain Me, the highest and most perfect goal. 19: After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare. 20: Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures. 21: I am in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship some demigod, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular deity. 22: Endowed with such a faith, he endeavors to worship a particular demigod and obtains his desires. But in actuality these benefits are bestowed by Me alone. 23: Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet. 24: Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, was impersonal before and have now assumed this personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme. 25: I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My internal potency, and therefore they do not know that I am unborn and infallible. 26: O Arjuna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know everything that has happened in the past, all that is happening in the present, and all things that are yet to come. I also know all living entities; but Me no one knows. 27: O scion of Bharata, O conqueror of the foe, all living entities are born into delusion, bewildered by dualities arisen from desire and hate. 28: Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life and whose sinful actions are completely eradicated are freed from the dualities of delusion, and they engage themselves in My service with determination. 29: Intelligent persons who are endeavoring for liberation from old age and death take refuge in Me in devotional service. They are actually Brahman because they entirely know everything about transcendental activities. 30: Those in full consciousness of Me, who know Me, the Supreme Lord, to be the governing principle of the material manifestation, of the demigods, and of all methods of sacrifice, can understand and know Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even at the time of death.
The Truth can only be revealed to us by uniting as One with the Spirit of Truth.