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The title of
this essay has been pondered by every thinking person since
the dawn of time. It has led, for example, to the idea that
there is a universal truth, or one truth that is consistent
throughout the universe. The idea is that once a person
discovers universal truth or THE Truth, instant
enlightenment is attained.
Perhaps there
is one universal truth, but if so, I don't know what it is.
My investigations into myself and the universe, my
observation of others, and my living of life with all its
attendant experiences have shown me that the search for
One Truth is futile. I have found that after decades of
searching, my search for truth is best experienced on a
personal, practical basis.
The idea that
if one discovered the One Truth, one would attain
enlightenment has within it, however, a nugget, a seed
which can be applied positively to life. If one achieves
enlightenment, this must feel very good, I would think. So
Truth then, whether universal or personal, must be something
that feels good. The problem is, is there one thing, or
idea, that feels good to everyone? Maybe, but identifying
this would be very difficult. If you ask 10 people about an
event they saw, inevitably there will be 10 different
descriptions. That is because a physical being necessarily
occupies a unique point in space/time. The physical
experience is guaranteed to generate unique points of view
on all things!
This leads me
to think that each person has their own, personal, truth. I
think we are on safe ground if we describe Truth as personal
to each individual, since people can't seem to agree,
throughout history, on one Universal Truth. So let's say
that Universal Truth, if it exists, is not definable in a
way that will make everyone happy. Let's also say that
Truth, personal or universal, must be something that feels
good to you.
I think we are
on solid ground here, because I have observed that the basic
reason why anyone does anything, is because it feels good to
do it. Of course there are negative people who seem to
concentrate on beating themselves up, in making themselves
feel as miserable as possible. But if you do a little
probing you will find beneath all of that, lie uninspected
beliefs or ideas. Once a person is aware of these
unidentified beliefs, they blow off and the person feels
much better, and the irrational conduct is lessened or goes
away.
I have noticed
that persons who feel good act more rationally than those
who do not. The criminal, the neurotic, the insane, are
always unhappy people. (Unhappy can be defined in this way
“between apathy and antagonism on the scale of
emotion/vibration”). Therefore truth (and rationality) must
have something to do with feeling good. There must be a
direct connection between rationality and feeling. This
means there is a direct connection between logic and
feeling. A logician would laugh at this idea. Logic is
defined as purely mental, totally divorced from feeling. But
I wonder why the logician delves into logic? I think if the
logician were being really truthful, he would have to admit
he studies logic because it feels good to him. Ultimately,
it is not logic or rationality that is the reason for
living, but feeling.
How to apply
this idea to everyday life?
Say you know
you are going to be laid-off from your present place of
employment. You have two job offers, and another choice to
be self-employed. One of the job offers, at a large
corporation, comes with a 50% increase in salary, but you
don’t like the company. The other job offer is with a small
company, and the environment is attractive, but comes with a
40% cut in pay. The other opportunity is to join a group of
friends who are starting their own company and want you to
join. The risk is enormous because the business might fail,
but the upside is also tremendous. After two weeks of
intensive thought, weighing the pros and cons, you still
can't make up your mind. You are in an agony of indecision.
Logic will not work for you in this situation, because the
future is not predictable! We have all made decisions based
upon logic alone, only to see the future yield a result
which was totally unpredictable.
If you apply
the idea of personal truth to this situation, you choose
the one that makes you feel better.
The truth is always that which makes you feel the best,
regardless of the 'facts.'
This may seem,
itself, to be an irrational suggestion. If all of the facts,
say, point to the job with the pay increase, then that's the
logical and best choice. But what if you feel your gut
tightening at the idea? That crummy feeling is your internal
guidance system giving you a warning.
The truth
always feels better, because the truth is a connection to
your true self. Sometimes we lose that connection in our
daily grind, and when we do, stress, anxiety and a general
sense of the lack of well-being pervades our experiences.
So we summarize
our conclusions by saying: Personal Truth are those thoughts
and actions which lead to a feeling of well-being.
That's pretty
simple, and it can be applied on a practical basis to
everyday life. Esoteric philosophy, metaphysics, advanced
mathematics, abstruse logic, etc. are all roads to personal
enlightenment, but are not applicable to the everyday
person. But even the genius can apply this simple, powerful
concept of personal truth.
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