The Pursuit of the Truth

How does one get to the truth?

The pursuit of the truth is an undoing. It’s dissecting away your beliefs, societal programming, preconceived notions, wants and desires. It’s an observation of your own internal intuition.
I wrote the prior statement too easily. The gravity and ferocity required to embark on this path was not shared. It’s like I said I’m taking a casual trip to the moon.
Our entire life, 24-7, 365, day in and day out – TV, co-workers, books, cell phones, billboards – convince us of what to believe. A belief is the costliest thing a person has. Its cost is bared by the one who holds it. The cost is that the person is stuck in time and space. The weight of the belief prevents them from seeing past the belief. Maintenance of the belief becomes the goal.

Imagine holding a 500-pound weight on your shoulders. It’s a full-time job holding that weight up. You can’t see beyond that weight. Anything that distracts you from holding that weight above your head is quickly shooed away. If your hand slips and the weight falls, you may perish.

Beliefs are the same way. A natural consequence of holding on to a belief is that you will reject any notion that challenge it, even if that notion is extremely practical, extremely effective. Where you will naturally look, is in all the places you can reinforce your belief. After all, you need it to justify holding the 500-pound weight over your head. Occasionally, through extreme circumstances or unplanned epiphanies, one realizes that holding a SQUARE 500-pound weight above thier head is actually ineffective. Thus, they will drop the square 500-pound weight and grab the TRIANGLE 500-pound weight. After all, their shoulders can handle it, and that’s what feels natural to them. They’re accustomed to it. There’s also a fear of what they will do without this weight. Will they be able to walk around now? Will they run? Will flight become available to them?
What happens when you choose not to hold any weight? What happens when you choose not to hold on to your beliefs? The saying goes, if you don’t believe in anything, you can’t stand for anything. This statement comes from a place, from one who believes they must to hold on to the weight over their head. They fear the imaginary high winds that would knock them over without the 500-pound weight.
In my examination, choosing not to hold weight, choosing to see the dramatic consequences of having beliefs, can be transformative. Before I explain more, I feel called to say that believing in not having beliefs is like holding a hexagonal-shaped 500-pound weight.

It is a delicate place to understand the impact that beliefs have upon us, to view them, to observe and to recognize, and then not to act. It’s the awareness of the impact of beliefs that frees one from the shackles.
Holding a belief that all belief’s are bad is the same thing as having a belief. A God-believer and atheist are equivalents. The one I speak of chooses a different path. This path is awareness and understanding. It allows you to walk an entirely different path than whats common. It is as if everyone is turning right or left and you jumped in the shrubs somewhere in between and made your own road. A road that allowed you to walk to the top of the mountain and observe the landscape. Often when beliefs are examined, their associated programming and biases are released. Deeper than the beliefs is something more nefarious.

What stands deeper than beliefs? What trumps beliefs every day of the week, is desire. Anytime you find a believer, you are observing a hypocrite. Their belief can only take them so far. Soon they’re faced with an opportunity to act in a way discordant from their belief, for a gain. This is their desire. This hypocrisy is rampant, so much so that’s expected as the status quo. Everyone acts based on their desire. See a believer touts their stance, turn around, have their cake and eat it too. The pastor can have an affair and keep their position. The priest can abuse and maintain their position. It’s commonplace. The scandal is only news when it makes the front page. The abuse, the hypocrisy spans decades, known to many. It’s systematic.

When will we see the chains of desire that wrap around our neck? When will we see the true master of our life? A life in desire is servitude. It’s not free will, when you are willing to do anything to feel good.

Just like with beliefs,  awareness and observation of our desires allows one to release the chains. It allows one to act from a place of understanding and knowing. It opens the opportunity for one to see the things that truly matter. This is the pursuit of the truth.

The undoing, allows you to see.