An Objective Look at “Truth”?

Lately I have been questioning the value and validity of what we call “truth”.

When I speak publicly about “Being Well” I share that nothing I say is about truth or non-truth but rather novel perceptual approaches that we can experiment with, or not,  in interpreting our experiences.

The Landmark Forum, an organization that explores the phenomenon of being human, has in the past shared the idea that “human beings are meaning making machines” and  that situations are essentially “empty and meaningless.”

This idea opens up the possibility that we (human beings) assign meaning to life situations rather than the situations having inherent meaning in and of themselves.

This idea is a game changer and can be severely disturbing to the personal “truths” from which we live. The extend of disturbance we experience is commensurate with the investment that we have in the idea that inherent meaning exists, since this idea in not way demands that we shift or change any way we live or think.  It is simply a perspective we can explore, and discover for ourselves what value it may offer.

Getting back to “truth”, all of us live out of prevailing truths about pretty much everything. Gross examples include: disease, financial upheavals, war, violence, eating processed, long shelf-life foods is bad while health, wealth, peace, gentleness, eating fresh fruits and vegetables is good. We live out of subtle truths too, children should be respectful of their parents, parents should be supportive of their children, the summer should be hot but not too hot, parties are fun, etc. Totally understandable assumptions about life yet… what happens when life isn’t meeting our truths/assumptions?  Where’s the disharmony? Is it in life itself,  or in our “truths” about how life should be?

If the disharmony is in life then we either change life or suffer from it. Changing life is a tall order.

If the disharmony is in our truths about life, we can revise our truths so they allow us more flexibility in creating situations more aligned with what we want to experience.

After the initial shock it probably feels a bit order cialis online embarrassing that despite numerous ‘efforts’ the little fella is just not enough. Our brain (in our heads) performs complex computations and rational thinking. cialis buy on line The true fact is that they https://unica-web.com/ENGLISH/2014/GA2014-film-library.html buy viagra in uk are just misconceptions. You can think cheap buy viagra of the heart and the blood vessel making it weaker. When we focus on ourselves and introduce the qualities we honor into the circumstances of our lives, we have an immediate increase of more of what we want and less of what we don’t, by BEING what we want.

An example:  You present your significant other with a gift that you choose very carefully. He/she opens it and thanks you without much enthusiasm. Your “truth” is that people should appreciate and show gratitude when receiving a gift. You notice that you feel anger and resentment and, instantaneously, your memory bank provides other data where your significant has under-appreciated you. Your evening is ruined and you begin thinking of how nice it would be to be with someone who would REALLY appreciate you.

Wait…you notice that you are the one who is ruining the evening, not your significant. You share that you would really love to present a gift that would be thrilling for him/her to receive and it doesn’t appear that this is that gift. You ask,  “What would that be if this gift isn’t it?” When you are told, you consider your next move. You are doubly committed to your love.

In this scenario you focused on your motivation, to bring pleasure to your significant other,and kept that focus. While there may have been personal disappointment that this gift wasn’t the thrill you had hoped for, you brought pleasure by communicating your intention and gathered information for your next opportunity. Meanwhile, your significant other heard how important it is for you to offer pleasure and smiled with gratitude, feeling how important his/her pleasure is to you – even if you didn’t nail the “perfect” gift.

The first “truth” is how someone else should have responded and that is not what happened. Stuck and unhappy!

The new “truth” is that you are committed to pleasing your significant other and you gather information from the situation to try another approach around gifts.  Pleased and happy in your relationship, if not in the gift!

There are so many truths out of which we live. Do they empower us to live lives filled with the qualities of existence we desire to experience or do they erode them? If you find depreciating returns from life, try a new truth!

We inherited our old “truths,” or created then at a different time and place when they served us better. We have the capacity to design new “truths” that better support us to have more of what we really want in our lives and less of what we don’t!