session 3 - truth

The speaker discusses the concept of truth, distinguishing between Truth with a capital T, which is objective and applies universally, and truth with a lowercase t, which is subjective and personal. They emphasize the importance of facing the truth in various aspects of life, such as relationships, to avoid prolonging pain and wasting time. Courage is needed to confront the truth, leading to new opportunities and personal growth. Knowing oneself and understanding how to take action based on individual personality is crucial. The speaker also touches on the significance of self-reflection, understanding one's mind, and finding inner peace. They mention the importance of finding union with one's beliefs, using the word "God" as a container for personal ideals and values. That word truth is not dissimilar to the words love and God. They're kind of devoid of meaning in everyday life. They get used kind of flippantly, which is normal. There's the truth with a capital T and truth with a lowercase t. I think truth with a capital T is truth that applies to everyone. The truth about, let's say, the truth about, let's say, something factual like gravity. That's just truth with a capital T. There's no disputing it. It's not subjective, it's objective. Truth with a lowercase t, let's say, is more of a subjective truth. What's my truth? What's your truth? Things like that. So philosophically speaking, truth is just one of those buzzwords that gets thrown around and used as almost, not really even helpful anymore these days. But my own personal truth or how I relate to truth, when have I realized that I'm not being fully truthful with myself? All the time it happens. That's an everyday occurrence. I think that as human beings, we are geared towards comfort, towards ease for the most part. I think laziness is a part, at least for me, and speaking for me, laziness, inertia, these are things that we have to fight against all the time in order to achieve the things that we want to achieve or even just to feel good in our own lives and in our own bodies. So let me give you an example. Let me give myself an example, truth. Let's say I'm in a relationship and I've been in many and I'm not being truthful with myself about whether or not I'm happy in the relationship or if the relationship is serving or if it's an appropriate relationship for me to be in anymore, if I want it to end, if I want out. I have been in positions like that, as many of us have, where we're not truthful with ourselves because once we face the truth, it requires action and that might be action that's going to yield pain for ourselves and others and so we can hide from the truth. Many people stay in relationships far too long and sacrifice time and opportunity for other relationships or for making space in their own lives or in the lives of their partners who ultimately they would be setting free if they were to be truthful with themselves and end the relationship or change the relationship or even admit to what's not working so that it can be out on the table in front of you and you can work on it together and decide what to do with your partner. So what it comes down to, to keep it simple, is that truth is something that has to be looked at all the time. What's your level of courage on any given day to face the truth about what you're experiencing? And in my experience, if I have the courage to face the truth of my own, of something that's going on in my life, it opens doors that you didn't know were there, perhaps, and it doesn't mean that there won't be pain, but it's like choose your poison type of thing. You know, if you hide from the truth about the fact that you're in a relationship that doesn't work, you're just staving off the inevitable, potentially compounding the pain, wasting your own time, wasting somebody else's time, sacrificing a new relationship that could happen or new opportunities that could come to the table, just that in the end, facing the truth, although it may be difficult and painful, does yield new energy and it creates space for new things to come into your life. So we have to be courageous. We have to look things in the eye. I'm not saying it's always the right time to do so. You might need to reflect. You might need to have a plan. You need to know yourself and understand how you function. Maybe you need to, you know, if you are a certain kind of person who needs clear steps in order to take action, then you need to reflect and create a plan, even a written plan that you can go by so that you can face the truth and the consequences of that truth. Maybe you're more of an impulsive person and you need to just grab the bull by the horns and go for it. You know, I mean, everything comes back to the ground of knowing who you are. That's a big abstract concept, but knowing the way that you function, knowing your personality type, and this is something we can get into later. I think it's very useful to look into different methodologies that exist to understand the mechanics of your own mind. Myers-Briggs can be very helpful. Numerology can be very helpful. Different kinds of, different thinkers, different philosophers, different psychologists, Carl Jung. There are many out there. Different spiritual traditions can help you find your own way of understanding how you work, but fundamentally, the ability to shut out the rest of the world and all input and understand where you are coming from, who are you when you close your eyes, who are you when there's no input coming, and when you give yourself the time to allow all of the noise that's present all the time to quiet down so you can be with your own self. This is the most important relationship in life. In my world view, which we can get to later, we've been here many times and we'll probably be here many more, and this whole place is essentially a curriculum. To know thyself, understand practically, understand how you function, can you understand yourself? Can you find a way of mapping out the way that your mind works so that you can deal with life in a way that's going to move you towards your goals, towards achieving the things you want to achieve, towards a sense of well-being, towards understanding what's important to you in this life, what's important for you to feel, be, understand, achieve? How can you find union with whatever it is that you perceive to be, here's that word again, God? And I know it's empty and devoid, but Swami Vivekananda once said, we won't let anybody take that word away from us. The word God is a container for that which we feel and believe to be the highest and best. Hari Om Tat Sat, Hari Om Tat Sat, Hari Om Tat Sat.