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Saturday, March 20, 2010

EXCEPT WHEN IT'S NOT

I enjoy reading books about psychology and spirituality, books that explore the shadowed caverns of our psyches and the luminous castles of our souls.  But I often find myself bristling when I encounter authors that—however fascinating or genuinely insightful—insist on passing their insights off not as reflections of Truth, but as THE WHOLE TRUTH.

I understand it.  There are times in life when the the universe really does open itself to us, when life-changing revelations flood our very being and transform our perceptions of ourselves and our world.  When that happens, when we’ve been so irrevocably altered by our encounter with the Ineffable, the impulse is to run through the streets screaming, “This is IT!  This is IT!  This is IT!”  (Believe me, I’ve done it myself on too many occasions...and, I’m sure, irritated the heck out of people in the process.)  And, really, it is IT.  For you.  In that moment.

I knew a remarkable man named Eruch Jessawalla:  one of the most genuinely spiritual people I’ve ever been blessed to meet.  No, Eruch didn't indulge in astral travel, he wasn't one for meditation or chanting and, as far as I know, he never had visions of the future:  His spirituality was rooted in his simple, honest humanity.  And he once said—I’m totally paraphrasing here, so if I mangle it blame me, not Eruch—that the Truth is so huge, so unfathomable, so beyond our ability to actually apprehend it, that any truth we touch in our spiritual unfolding can only be one aspect of that Greater Truth. Please note that Eruch wasn’t in any way invalidating our individual truths, just observing their inherent limitations.

My own solution to this problem is simple:  I imagine, on the first page of any book that presents A Ground-Breaking New Theory Of Existence (spiritual, psychological, scientific, political, whatever), the following words:

EVERYTHING YOU’RE ABOUT TO READ IN THIS BOOK IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH...

And then, on the next page:

...EXCEPT WHEN IT’S NOT!

Or imagine it’s the first morning of the latest workshop that Guarantees Enlightenment In Three Days Or Your Money Back.  The Wise One leading the group steps up to the microphone and says:

EVERYTHING YOU’RE ABOUT TO LEARN THIS WEEKEND IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH...

A slight pause while that sinks in.

...EXCEPT WHEN IT’S NOT!

If people would just write that, speak that, embrace that, I’d be able to relax and absorb their insights, their ancient wisdom and modern epiphanies.  I’d let their truths settle into my soul, keep the ones that resonate, throw out the ones that don’t and walk away enriched and remarkably unirritated.  (For the record:  I’m well aware that my irritation says more about my own limitations than it does about anyone else’s.)

So why, exactly, am I going on about this?  Well, in  the course of writing this blog, I've vented my feelngs, expressed my opinions, about everything from the last movie I rented from Netflix to The Meaning Of Life As I Understand It.   And, being a passionate person, I like to express myself as forcefully, as vehemently, as definitively (or, let’s be honest, as obnoxiously) as the subject demands.

But, just to insure that any opinion or alleged insight I express here is taken in the right spirit (and that I always remember that my personal truth is merely part of Eruch's much larger, cosmic tapestry), I want these words inscribed on your eyeballs...and mine, too:

EVERYTHING YOU READ IN THIS BLOG IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH...

All together:

...EXCEPT WHEN IT’S NOT!

We now return to our regularly-scheduled pontification.

©copyright 2010  J.M. DeMatteis

4 comments:

  1. Whole-heartedly agree; I'm not a religious person, but I will read up on the basics of different teachings, just because I can glean SOME useful (to me) information out of it. I figure it hasn't been around for thousands of years without some decent idea behind it. None, religions, writers, philosophers, etc, will ever be quoted by me chapter and verse all the way thru, but almost everybody's got SOMETHING valid to say here and there, even if it's by accident! Keep on pontificating, JM; I think I'll schlep out to Anaheim to see you in April...

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  2. That's great, Ken. I look forward to meeting you.

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  3. Sure enjoyed this one, JM. At the current stage in my own Journey, the 'Truth' that everything I understand or 'Master' really just brings me to another Zero-point is an amazingly Joyful experience. Several years back, those same thoughts brought deep despair. Several years from now, I hope it's changed again.

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  4. There's an old Ram Dass line, Tim (I'm paraphrasing from memory here and adding a little icing on top), where he marvels at the fact that we're all on a journey where every stop seems like the final destination. We think, "Hey, this is it! Ultimate Truth!" And then we look up and realize there's so much more to the mountain.

    Of course the flip side is that Truth is like a hologram: every slice of it, no matter how small, contains the whole.

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