On Truth and Of Those Who Speak It
In the last handful of years, I have began wondering about the realities of it all. Who among us is speaking the truth? Who among us has the conviction to speak without restricition?
One of the voices I have discovered comes from a fellow by the name of Michael Ruppert. I will not go into the specifics of his history or his education campaign, but rather speak in a more gerneral way.
Micheal is one who sees the oneness; or at least the greater fraction of the oneness; which allows great truth; a bridging truth; to shine through his words. In a recent article, he described his observations on the world, and the reasons and motivation that led him to find a new path unlike one many of us have ever traveled. I suggest you read his article titled By the Light of a Burning Bridge while it is available online, particularly the first and last parts, which shine a light on the oneness.
Of oneness, for those who may not understand my implication: oneness is the reality and truth that shows the wholeness of all things. More commonly described as "connections" or "interrelatedness"; oneness shows how all actions are part of one existance and inseperable from the whole. The Peak Oil education campaign, for example, is not in any meaningful way seperate from the Civil Rights movement, or from the U.S. economy, or from television viewing, or from church attendance, or even that peach that I just ate from the local farm market. There is oneness; connections; interrelationships; and this state of connection is visible for any to see, once they take the time and effort to seek the whole truth, and an equal effort to seperate away the chaff and the lie.
It is the message. Michael as an individual speaks as one in-tune with the oneness of all. It matters not his history, his future, or his actions. The words and message that ANY individual may speak have merit on their own, seperate from the individual. Michael speaks the truth, to the best of his understanding; from his vantage point; from his frame; from his experience.
In the tradition of the Society of Friends, a deep appreciation and wonder accompanies sharing of the truth. Such sharings are listened to, intently, within context, and viewed rightly as a message coming through an individual from truth itself. Words, meanings, messages are shared openly, and welcomed in, to be considered and integrated into one's understanding of existence. This does not imply blanket acceptance of words, but an openness to hear, to consider, to feel the fit within an individuals own concept of the world. Scepticism and critical thought are essential to deeper understanding, as well as a core understanding of the value system one wishes to see in the world.
The discovery of one's value system is a difficult and challenging journey. It requires the willingness to cast off all belief, and to start from scratch, to slowly build up a concept of the future one believes is natural and desirable for the world. With this vision of the destination growing ever clearer in view, the values required to make the journey come into focus... and the system by which they must be ranked and considered.
In my own journey, which ends only at death, I have allowed the void and nihlism to fill my essense, and through that discovered the inherent nature of my own life; that I have natural desires for self and community, and that this is not sufficient to get us to where we would like to go. It requires an overall love; an overall compassion; an overall understanding of everything and for everything; as the value of highest order; to take humanity and life itself beyond the event horizon that seems to loom ever nearer ahead of us. Extinction and die-off. Not only of humanity but of much of life; perhaps all life; on this earth --- our body.
This vision for the future; where do we most desperately want to be in 1,000 years; or 100 years, or a decade, or today... this vision is what gives meaning to our value system; and shows us the correctness or failings of our beliefs.
This is a message that does not come from me... I am a product of my history, and the history before it. I am a part of the oneness as are all others. A millenia ago, I was of the earth; molecules, energy, and thought scattered throughout the world; one with the world. A millenia hence, I shall again be scattered throughout this home, throughout this body. The words that I, or any other speak, are not coming from me so much as the tiniest cell of the living planet, for a moment, made consious and given voice.
Such has it always been with those who have spoken truth; both those remembered and forgotten. And it matters not if individuals are remembered, for it is the message and the understanding of our oneness that will guide us into a deeper understanding of the very meaning of life.
...
It is occasionally a challenge for me to withhold thought and emotion when listening to the words and communications of others. I attempt to open my mind, to turn to wonder, to accept the goodness and compassion of the individual without prejudice to their actions or perceptions of the world. This acceptance has been valued by humanity throughout history; it has been echoed and amplified by sages through time. It is only by accepting that truth comes from many voices that we can understand the oneness of it all; and move to a deeper level of connection with the whole.
When I was at University, a decade and a half ago, there was one important question that I would ask when interviewing my brothers; it was "What is the meaning of life?" This question, and the willingness to seek it, takes us to new depths. I don't know what motivated me to have that question in my heart. Perhaps a silent walk through the woods one day when I was a child, attempting to make sense of the pomp and circimstance of religiousity and the Catholicism and preaching of the church my father took me to each Sunday. Even then, through the words of the priest and the layperson, through the words of the New Testament and the ceremony, I heard the message that "God is Love"... in otherwords, Love, the emotion itself is God. There was no need for an afterlife visualized as a walk through the pearlly gates; or a hell, or a giant upon a throne who judged the merit of individual lives. God is love. It was that simple. Love is the emotion that binds; and it is the emotion that offers hope for salvation for our species; if only we can free it from the constraints which our lives and teachings put upon it; the restrictions and focuses that we imagine and construe to be correct and right. Love is a state of mind; it is an emotion; it has no direction or specificity. It is a state entered into after a magical merger of some thought with some action of self or other. It need not be directed at a spouse, or a child, or a parent, or a sunset... It is a general overall feeling and it is this universiality of the emotion and the non-specific focus that is our goal. To understand that the emotion of Love and compassion for all is our greatest value and that we must learn to release love from its binds and its directionality toward self, other, group, nation or species.
I recall imagining in myself the meaning for life. Why was I in this amazing world? Why are any of us here? There must be a reason. Is there? Is there really? Must there? Is reason necessary? It seems that as living beings, born of this planet and its five billion years of nurturing and evolution, are bound to do what can be done to continue what has been achieved. Life. We value life. Life of ourselves; life of our loved ones; life of our species; life of our planet and existence. We value life for we understand the amazing feeling of being consious and alive in the world. We value life because we see and understand that death awaits us all; and our loved ones; and our families; and our species; and someday, all life on earth. But we need not submit to the end of life before the sun reclaims this planet into its own body. We value life here and now; in the past; and into the future as far as it will go. And who knows what awaits life in the future? Perhaps microbes or complex organisms will escape the firey end that awaits; and spread to other planets, and other homes, through space and through time. We value life because we feel it at all times and because we understand that all others feel it too.
Love and compassion, the ultimate feeling; leading us forward; showing us how to preserve life and existence; and how to continue this fantastic evolution that has brought us to this point in time. These are the values that form the core of our movement. Not a series of movements broken into little boxes and compartmentalized, but one movement toward a value system of action, of compassion, of life; that is the only path for humanity to survive long-term as part of the oneness of our home the earth. This is one movement; be it human rights, or animal rights, or environmentalism, or any of the others --- they all share at their core the shared value system; only seperated by the shallow understanding of those within each movement of the connectioning threads and commonality of values.
This is not a new message. Down through that ages, voices - recorded and unrecorded - remembered and forgotten - distorted and clarified - have shone a light on the truth of our existence. It is the speaking of this truth that helps us to connect and become one with each other. It is the clarity of thought and understanding via effective, truthful, and clear communication that allows us to become one. It is the willingness to see the light in each other and to accept that everyone is at a different place in this journey, and yet their is truth in what all say; and even in what they do not say. Truth, whole truth, nothing but the truth, it is the vehicle by which masses come quickly to deeper levels of understanding. Thought, critical thought, drawing on understanding, and knowledge, and truths of one's own lives and allow us to seek truth not on the face of any words or message, but THROUGH the message... what is that universal truth and understanding that is shining through the totally inadequate language; as any language is unable to convey thought due to its finite nature.
There we have it then, it the proverbial nutshell, the message through me, myself only one of many that have articulated it in one way or another. The message, not the messager, is what guides, inspires, and helps us to come to a new understanding of the world, existance, and our oneness with it. Our shared value system of love, life, truth; all which lead to the inevitable happiness and joy that we all seek; this is the way of the future; currently being distorted and suppressed by this failed global economic system that so few seem to comprehend.
The fable of the apple is not my truth, it is a universal truth, and we support it with every dollar we spend or save and every bit of energy or matter that we aquire in an unsustainable manner. And sustainablity is but a start of our goal. Our vision for the future shows that we desire to not only live in harmony with each other and all life on this planet, but to undo the damage and destruction that our species has inflicted upon the living and natural systems of this world. It is a call to action that is clear and growing louder with every passing day.
Truth is within the grasp of all, and truth comes from within. It is not these words that contain truth but the one who reads them and finds withint themself that which rings clear and true; and who incorporates into their understanding; after perhaps a time of reconciliation of beliefs with new views. Truth is within grasp of all, no matter who is around, no matter what one reads. It is not dependent upon others; it is there to be found within oneself at all times. As the great truth-speaker Tolstoy would remind us, "The Kingdom of God is Within You". It is inside each of us that we will face the void and find our truth and the meaning of our own lives.
One of the voices I have discovered comes from a fellow by the name of Michael Ruppert. I will not go into the specifics of his history or his education campaign, but rather speak in a more gerneral way.
Micheal is one who sees the oneness; or at least the greater fraction of the oneness; which allows great truth; a bridging truth; to shine through his words. In a recent article, he described his observations on the world, and the reasons and motivation that led him to find a new path unlike one many of us have ever traveled. I suggest you read his article titled By the Light of a Burning Bridge while it is available online, particularly the first and last parts, which shine a light on the oneness.
Of oneness, for those who may not understand my implication: oneness is the reality and truth that shows the wholeness of all things. More commonly described as "connections" or "interrelatedness"; oneness shows how all actions are part of one existance and inseperable from the whole. The Peak Oil education campaign, for example, is not in any meaningful way seperate from the Civil Rights movement, or from the U.S. economy, or from television viewing, or from church attendance, or even that peach that I just ate from the local farm market. There is oneness; connections; interrelationships; and this state of connection is visible for any to see, once they take the time and effort to seek the whole truth, and an equal effort to seperate away the chaff and the lie.
It is the message. Michael as an individual speaks as one in-tune with the oneness of all. It matters not his history, his future, or his actions. The words and message that ANY individual may speak have merit on their own, seperate from the individual. Michael speaks the truth, to the best of his understanding; from his vantage point; from his frame; from his experience.
In the tradition of the Society of Friends, a deep appreciation and wonder accompanies sharing of the truth. Such sharings are listened to, intently, within context, and viewed rightly as a message coming through an individual from truth itself. Words, meanings, messages are shared openly, and welcomed in, to be considered and integrated into one's understanding of existence. This does not imply blanket acceptance of words, but an openness to hear, to consider, to feel the fit within an individuals own concept of the world. Scepticism and critical thought are essential to deeper understanding, as well as a core understanding of the value system one wishes to see in the world.
The discovery of one's value system is a difficult and challenging journey. It requires the willingness to cast off all belief, and to start from scratch, to slowly build up a concept of the future one believes is natural and desirable for the world. With this vision of the destination growing ever clearer in view, the values required to make the journey come into focus... and the system by which they must be ranked and considered.
In my own journey, which ends only at death, I have allowed the void and nihlism to fill my essense, and through that discovered the inherent nature of my own life; that I have natural desires for self and community, and that this is not sufficient to get us to where we would like to go. It requires an overall love; an overall compassion; an overall understanding of everything and for everything; as the value of highest order; to take humanity and life itself beyond the event horizon that seems to loom ever nearer ahead of us. Extinction and die-off. Not only of humanity but of much of life; perhaps all life; on this earth --- our body.
This vision for the future; where do we most desperately want to be in 1,000 years; or 100 years, or a decade, or today... this vision is what gives meaning to our value system; and shows us the correctness or failings of our beliefs.
This is a message that does not come from me... I am a product of my history, and the history before it. I am a part of the oneness as are all others. A millenia ago, I was of the earth; molecules, energy, and thought scattered throughout the world; one with the world. A millenia hence, I shall again be scattered throughout this home, throughout this body. The words that I, or any other speak, are not coming from me so much as the tiniest cell of the living planet, for a moment, made consious and given voice.
Such has it always been with those who have spoken truth; both those remembered and forgotten. And it matters not if individuals are remembered, for it is the message and the understanding of our oneness that will guide us into a deeper understanding of the very meaning of life.
...
It is occasionally a challenge for me to withhold thought and emotion when listening to the words and communications of others. I attempt to open my mind, to turn to wonder, to accept the goodness and compassion of the individual without prejudice to their actions or perceptions of the world. This acceptance has been valued by humanity throughout history; it has been echoed and amplified by sages through time. It is only by accepting that truth comes from many voices that we can understand the oneness of it all; and move to a deeper level of connection with the whole.
When I was at University, a decade and a half ago, there was one important question that I would ask when interviewing my brothers; it was "What is the meaning of life?" This question, and the willingness to seek it, takes us to new depths. I don't know what motivated me to have that question in my heart. Perhaps a silent walk through the woods one day when I was a child, attempting to make sense of the pomp and circimstance of religiousity and the Catholicism and preaching of the church my father took me to each Sunday. Even then, through the words of the priest and the layperson, through the words of the New Testament and the ceremony, I heard the message that "God is Love"... in otherwords, Love, the emotion itself is God. There was no need for an afterlife visualized as a walk through the pearlly gates; or a hell, or a giant upon a throne who judged the merit of individual lives. God is love. It was that simple. Love is the emotion that binds; and it is the emotion that offers hope for salvation for our species; if only we can free it from the constraints which our lives and teachings put upon it; the restrictions and focuses that we imagine and construe to be correct and right. Love is a state of mind; it is an emotion; it has no direction or specificity. It is a state entered into after a magical merger of some thought with some action of self or other. It need not be directed at a spouse, or a child, or a parent, or a sunset... It is a general overall feeling and it is this universiality of the emotion and the non-specific focus that is our goal. To understand that the emotion of Love and compassion for all is our greatest value and that we must learn to release love from its binds and its directionality toward self, other, group, nation or species.
I recall imagining in myself the meaning for life. Why was I in this amazing world? Why are any of us here? There must be a reason. Is there? Is there really? Must there? Is reason necessary? It seems that as living beings, born of this planet and its five billion years of nurturing and evolution, are bound to do what can be done to continue what has been achieved. Life. We value life. Life of ourselves; life of our loved ones; life of our species; life of our planet and existence. We value life for we understand the amazing feeling of being consious and alive in the world. We value life because we see and understand that death awaits us all; and our loved ones; and our families; and our species; and someday, all life on earth. But we need not submit to the end of life before the sun reclaims this planet into its own body. We value life here and now; in the past; and into the future as far as it will go. And who knows what awaits life in the future? Perhaps microbes or complex organisms will escape the firey end that awaits; and spread to other planets, and other homes, through space and through time. We value life because we feel it at all times and because we understand that all others feel it too.
Love and compassion, the ultimate feeling; leading us forward; showing us how to preserve life and existence; and how to continue this fantastic evolution that has brought us to this point in time. These are the values that form the core of our movement. Not a series of movements broken into little boxes and compartmentalized, but one movement toward a value system of action, of compassion, of life; that is the only path for humanity to survive long-term as part of the oneness of our home the earth. This is one movement; be it human rights, or animal rights, or environmentalism, or any of the others --- they all share at their core the shared value system; only seperated by the shallow understanding of those within each movement of the connectioning threads and commonality of values.
This is not a new message. Down through that ages, voices - recorded and unrecorded - remembered and forgotten - distorted and clarified - have shone a light on the truth of our existence. It is the speaking of this truth that helps us to connect and become one with each other. It is the clarity of thought and understanding via effective, truthful, and clear communication that allows us to become one. It is the willingness to see the light in each other and to accept that everyone is at a different place in this journey, and yet their is truth in what all say; and even in what they do not say. Truth, whole truth, nothing but the truth, it is the vehicle by which masses come quickly to deeper levels of understanding. Thought, critical thought, drawing on understanding, and knowledge, and truths of one's own lives and allow us to seek truth not on the face of any words or message, but THROUGH the message... what is that universal truth and understanding that is shining through the totally inadequate language; as any language is unable to convey thought due to its finite nature.
There we have it then, it the proverbial nutshell, the message through me, myself only one of many that have articulated it in one way or another. The message, not the messager, is what guides, inspires, and helps us to come to a new understanding of the world, existance, and our oneness with it. Our shared value system of love, life, truth; all which lead to the inevitable happiness and joy that we all seek; this is the way of the future; currently being distorted and suppressed by this failed global economic system that so few seem to comprehend.
The fable of the apple is not my truth, it is a universal truth, and we support it with every dollar we spend or save and every bit of energy or matter that we aquire in an unsustainable manner. And sustainablity is but a start of our goal. Our vision for the future shows that we desire to not only live in harmony with each other and all life on this planet, but to undo the damage and destruction that our species has inflicted upon the living and natural systems of this world. It is a call to action that is clear and growing louder with every passing day.
Truth is within the grasp of all, and truth comes from within. It is not these words that contain truth but the one who reads them and finds withint themself that which rings clear and true; and who incorporates into their understanding; after perhaps a time of reconciliation of beliefs with new views. Truth is within grasp of all, no matter who is around, no matter what one reads. It is not dependent upon others; it is there to be found within oneself at all times. As the great truth-speaker Tolstoy would remind us, "The Kingdom of God is Within You". It is inside each of us that we will face the void and find our truth and the meaning of our own lives.