Thursday, November 08, 2007
Truth
On the inner battlefield of which the fight is for the human soul, there are two masters that are ever contending for the kingship and dominion of the human heart. One is the self, also called the “Prince of this world,'' and the other is the Truth, also sometimes called “God.”
The self is that rebellious one whose weapons are passion, pride, avarice, vanity, gluttony, addiction, and ignorance. The Truth is the one whose weapons are gentleness, patience, purity, sacrifice, humility, and love. In every soul the battle is waged, and as a soldier cannot engage simultaneously in two opposing armies, so every heart is enlisted either in the ranks of self or of Truth.
Buddha, the teacher of Truth said that “there is self and there is Truth; where self is, Truth is not, where Truth is, self is not." Jesus Christ declared that "No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other."
Truth is so simple, so absolutely undeviating and uncompromising that it admits of no complexity, no turning, and no qualification. Conversely self is vanity, crooked, governed by subtle and snaky desire admits of endless turnings and qualifications, and the deluded worshippers of self vainly imagine that they can gratify every worldly desire and that at the same time posses the truth.
The lovers of Truth worship Truth with the sacrifice of self, and ceaselessly guard themselves against worldliness and self-seeking. Do you seek to know and to realize Truth? Then you must be prepared to sacrifice, to renounce to the uttermost, for Truth in all its glory can only be perceived and known when the last vestige of self has disappeared.
Are you willing to deny yourself, to give up your lusts, your prejudices, and your opinions? If so, you may enter the narrow way of Truth, and find that peace from which the world is shut out. The absolute denial, the utter extinction, of self is the perfect state of Truth, and all religions and philosophies are but so many aids to this supreme attainment.
Self is the denial of Truth. Truth is the denial of self. As you let self die, you will be reborn in Truth. As you cling to self, Truth will be hidden from you. While you cling to self, your path will be beset with difficulties, and pain, sorrow, and disappointment will be your lot. There are no difficulties in Truth, and coming to Truth, you will be freed from all sorrow and disappointment.
Truth in itself is not hidden and dark. It is always revealed and is perfectly transparent. It is the blind and wayward self that cannot perceive it. The light of day is not hidden except to the blind, and the Light of Truth is not hidden except to those who are blinded by self.
Truth is the one Reality in the universe, the inward Harmony, the perfect Justice, the eternal Love. Nothing can be added to it, nor taken from it. It does not depend upon any person, but all people depend upon it. You cannot perceive the beauty of Truth while you are looking out through the eyes of self. If you are vain, you will color everything with your own vanities. If lustful, your heart and mind will be so clouded with the smoke and flames of passion, that everything will appear distorted through them. If proud and opinionative, you will see nothing in the whole universe except the magnitude and importance of your own opinions.
There is one quality which pre-eminently distinguishes the person of Truth from the person of self, and that is humility. To be free from vanity, stubbornness and egotism, this indeed is true humility, while the one who is immersed in self regards their own opinions as Truth, and the opinions of others as error. However the Truth-lover who has learned to distinguish between opinion and Truth, regards all people with the eye of charity, and does not seek to defend their opinions against others, but sacrifices those opinions that they may love the more, that one may manifest the spirit of Truth, for Truth in its very nature is beyond words and can only be lived.
People engage in heated controversies, and foolishly imagine they are defending the Truth, when in reality they are merely defending their own petty interests and opinions. The follower of self takes up arms against others. The follower of Truth takes up arms only against the self. Truth, being unchangeable and eternal, is independent of your opinion and of mine. We may enter into it, or we may stay outside; both our defense and our attack are superfluous.
People, who are enslaved by self, passionate, proud, and condemnatory, believe their particular creed or religion to be the Truth, and all other religions to be error; and they proselytize with passionate ardor. There is but one religion, the religion of Truth. There is but one error, the error of self. Truth is not a formal belief; it is an unselfish, holy, and aspiring heart, and he who has Truth is at peace with all, and cherishes all with thoughts of love.
You may easily know whether you are a child of Truth or a worshipper of self, if you will silently examine your mind, heart, and conduct. Do you harbor thoughts of suspicion, enmity, envy, and lust? If so, you are chained to self, no matter what religion you may profess. Do you continually strive to control the self and to be gentle, mild, and kind to all who cross your path? Then you are a candidate for Truth, even though outwardly you may profess no religion.
Are you passionate, self-willed, and ever seeking to gain? Do you strive for riches? Do you fight, with passion, for your party? Do you lust for power and leadership? Are you given to ostentation and self-praise? If so, even though you may imagine you worship God, the god of your heart is self.
Or have you given up the love of worldly prizes? Have you relinquished all strife? Are you content to take the lowest place, and to be passed by? Have you ceased to talk about yourself and to regard yourself with self complacent pride? If so even though you may withhold your lips from worship, you are dwelling in the Most High. The signs by which the Truth-lover is known are unmistakable.
The giving up of self is not the renunciation of outward things. It consists of the renunciation of the inward error. You will not find the Truth by giving up vain clothing, relinquishing riches, abstaining from certain foods, speaking smooth words, or praying in public. The Truth is found by giving up the spirit of vanity, by abstaining from the lust of self indulgence, and by giving up all hatred, strife, condemnation, and self-seeking, and becoming gentle and pure at heart.
To do the former, and not to do the latter, is pharisaic and hypocrisy. You may renounce the outward world, and isolate yourself in a cave or in the depths of a forest, but you will take all your selfishness with you, and unless you renounce that, great indeed will be your wretchedness and deep your delusion. You may remain just where you are, performing all your duties, and yet renounce the world; the inward enemy. To be in the world and yet not of the world is the highest perfection, the most blessed peace, it is this way that you achieve the greatest victory.
Be Blessed
The self is that rebellious one whose weapons are passion, pride, avarice, vanity, gluttony, addiction, and ignorance. The Truth is the one whose weapons are gentleness, patience, purity, sacrifice, humility, and love. In every soul the battle is waged, and as a soldier cannot engage simultaneously in two opposing armies, so every heart is enlisted either in the ranks of self or of Truth.
Buddha, the teacher of Truth said that “there is self and there is Truth; where self is, Truth is not, where Truth is, self is not." Jesus Christ declared that "No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other."
Truth is so simple, so absolutely undeviating and uncompromising that it admits of no complexity, no turning, and no qualification. Conversely self is vanity, crooked, governed by subtle and snaky desire admits of endless turnings and qualifications, and the deluded worshippers of self vainly imagine that they can gratify every worldly desire and that at the same time posses the truth.
The lovers of Truth worship Truth with the sacrifice of self, and ceaselessly guard themselves against worldliness and self-seeking. Do you seek to know and to realize Truth? Then you must be prepared to sacrifice, to renounce to the uttermost, for Truth in all its glory can only be perceived and known when the last vestige of self has disappeared.
Are you willing to deny yourself, to give up your lusts, your prejudices, and your opinions? If so, you may enter the narrow way of Truth, and find that peace from which the world is shut out. The absolute denial, the utter extinction, of self is the perfect state of Truth, and all religions and philosophies are but so many aids to this supreme attainment.
Self is the denial of Truth. Truth is the denial of self. As you let self die, you will be reborn in Truth. As you cling to self, Truth will be hidden from you. While you cling to self, your path will be beset with difficulties, and pain, sorrow, and disappointment will be your lot. There are no difficulties in Truth, and coming to Truth, you will be freed from all sorrow and disappointment.
Truth in itself is not hidden and dark. It is always revealed and is perfectly transparent. It is the blind and wayward self that cannot perceive it. The light of day is not hidden except to the blind, and the Light of Truth is not hidden except to those who are blinded by self.
Truth is the one Reality in the universe, the inward Harmony, the perfect Justice, the eternal Love. Nothing can be added to it, nor taken from it. It does not depend upon any person, but all people depend upon it. You cannot perceive the beauty of Truth while you are looking out through the eyes of self. If you are vain, you will color everything with your own vanities. If lustful, your heart and mind will be so clouded with the smoke and flames of passion, that everything will appear distorted through them. If proud and opinionative, you will see nothing in the whole universe except the magnitude and importance of your own opinions.
There is one quality which pre-eminently distinguishes the person of Truth from the person of self, and that is humility. To be free from vanity, stubbornness and egotism, this indeed is true humility, while the one who is immersed in self regards their own opinions as Truth, and the opinions of others as error. However the Truth-lover who has learned to distinguish between opinion and Truth, regards all people with the eye of charity, and does not seek to defend their opinions against others, but sacrifices those opinions that they may love the more, that one may manifest the spirit of Truth, for Truth in its very nature is beyond words and can only be lived.
People engage in heated controversies, and foolishly imagine they are defending the Truth, when in reality they are merely defending their own petty interests and opinions. The follower of self takes up arms against others. The follower of Truth takes up arms only against the self. Truth, being unchangeable and eternal, is independent of your opinion and of mine. We may enter into it, or we may stay outside; both our defense and our attack are superfluous.
People, who are enslaved by self, passionate, proud, and condemnatory, believe their particular creed or religion to be the Truth, and all other religions to be error; and they proselytize with passionate ardor. There is but one religion, the religion of Truth. There is but one error, the error of self. Truth is not a formal belief; it is an unselfish, holy, and aspiring heart, and he who has Truth is at peace with all, and cherishes all with thoughts of love.
You may easily know whether you are a child of Truth or a worshipper of self, if you will silently examine your mind, heart, and conduct. Do you harbor thoughts of suspicion, enmity, envy, and lust? If so, you are chained to self, no matter what religion you may profess. Do you continually strive to control the self and to be gentle, mild, and kind to all who cross your path? Then you are a candidate for Truth, even though outwardly you may profess no religion.
Are you passionate, self-willed, and ever seeking to gain? Do you strive for riches? Do you fight, with passion, for your party? Do you lust for power and leadership? Are you given to ostentation and self-praise? If so, even though you may imagine you worship God, the god of your heart is self.
Or have you given up the love of worldly prizes? Have you relinquished all strife? Are you content to take the lowest place, and to be passed by? Have you ceased to talk about yourself and to regard yourself with self complacent pride? If so even though you may withhold your lips from worship, you are dwelling in the Most High. The signs by which the Truth-lover is known are unmistakable.
The giving up of self is not the renunciation of outward things. It consists of the renunciation of the inward error. You will not find the Truth by giving up vain clothing, relinquishing riches, abstaining from certain foods, speaking smooth words, or praying in public. The Truth is found by giving up the spirit of vanity, by abstaining from the lust of self indulgence, and by giving up all hatred, strife, condemnation, and self-seeking, and becoming gentle and pure at heart.
To do the former, and not to do the latter, is pharisaic and hypocrisy. You may renounce the outward world, and isolate yourself in a cave or in the depths of a forest, but you will take all your selfishness with you, and unless you renounce that, great indeed will be your wretchedness and deep your delusion. You may remain just where you are, performing all your duties, and yet renounce the world; the inward enemy. To be in the world and yet not of the world is the highest perfection, the most blessed peace, it is this way that you achieve the greatest victory.
Be Blessed
Labels: life, self improvement
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