WHAT IS TRUTH

The word "Philosophy" is derived from the Ancient Greek - philosophía (compounded from phílos: friend, or lover and sophía: wisdom). To quote from WikiPedia, "Philosophy is the discipline concerned with the questions of what is the right way to live (ethics), what sorts of things ultimately exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics), what is to count as genuine knowledge (epistemology), and what are the correct principles of reasoning (logic).

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Pravin Kumar
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WHAT IS TRUTH

Post by Pravin Kumar » Fri Aug 26, 2011 9:07 am

"What is truth? And is it possible to know it partially?"

Truth cannot be known partially, because truth is one. It cannot be broken into parts. This means that it is not possible for a person to know a little bit of truth now, then a little bit more, and then a little bit more. It does not happen like this. Truth is experienced as one. This means that it is not a gradual process. It is experienced totally, it is experienced in an explosion. But if I say that it can only be known totally, you will feel a little apprehensive because you feel so weak, how can you possibly know it totally?

When a man climbs up to the roof of the house he reaches it all at once, yet he has climbed the steps to it one at a time. He does not reach the roof in one step. When he is on the first step he is not on the roof and when he is on the last step he is still not on the roof: he begins to approach the roof, but he is still not on it.

It is possible to move closer to the truth gradually, but when you arrive at truth it is total. This means that you can gradually move closer to truth, but the attainment of truth is total, it is never in parts. It is never in fragments, remember this.

So the introduction to meditation that I have given you is a set of steps: you will not know truth through them, but you will move closer to truth through them. And at the last step which I have called 'emptiness of the emotions', when you jump beyond this emptiness of the emotions too, you experience truth. But then truth is known in its totality.

The experience of the divine does not come in fragments, it happens as a whole. But the way to reach the divine is divided into many parts, but truth itself is not in parts. So don't think, "How can a person as weak as I am know the whole truth? I can only manage to know it if it can be known bit by bit."

No, you will also be able to know it because you only need to walk on the path for a short distance at a time. It is not possible to walk the whole length of the path all at once. You cannot walk the whole length of a path at once; you have to walk a little at a time. But the destination is always reached as a whole, you never get there in parts -- remember this.

Someone has asked: What is truth?

There is no way to say it in words. To this day, it has been impossible to say it in human language -- and it will never be said in the future either. It is not that in the past we did not have a language rich enough to say it, and that we will be able to say it in the future. It will never be said.

There is a reason for this. Languages developed for the purpose of communicating with other people.  Language was created in order to communicate with people, it was not created to express truth. And it is unlikely that any of the people who created language had known truth. This is why there is no word for the ultimate truth. And the people who knew it through silence. This means that when they experienced  truth they were totally silent, no word for the ultimate truth. And the people who knew truth did not know it through language, they knew it through silence. This means that when they experienced truth they were totally silent, no word  existed there. So there is a problem: when they started talking about it after the experience, they found one point, truth, which there was no way to describe. It is not possible to provide words for it. And when they provided words, the words were incomplete, they fell short.

And on the basis of these words alone, conflicts arose -- based on these very same words. Because all words are inadequate, they are unable to express truth. They are just like hints. It is as if somebody is pointing his finger to the moon, and if we grab his finger thinking that this is the moon, then there will be trouble. The finger is not the moon.  The finger is just an indication. Who ever grabs hold of the indication will be in trouble. You have to let go of the finger so that the thing to which it is pointing becomes visible. You have to drop the words, and only then will you have a glimpse of truth. But someone who grabs hold of the words will miss the experience.

This is why there is no way for me to tell you what truth. And if somebody claims to be telling you, he is deceiving himself. If somebody tells you this, he is deceiving himself and you. There is no way to describe truth. Yes, there is a way to tell you how to experience truth. The method to know truth,the process, can be described, but what truth is cannot be said.

There are methods to attain truth, but there are no definitions of truth. During these three days I have discussed these methods, and you may feel that we have completely ignored truth itself. I have talked about truth, but I have never said what truth actually is.

No, it cannot be said, it can only be experienced. Truth cannot be described but it can be experienced -- and it will be your experience. The method can be given, but the experience of truth will be your own. The experience of truth is always individual, and it is not possible to communicate it to another.

So this is why I will not tell you what truth is. It is not because I want to withhold something from you, but because it cannot be said. In ages past, during the time of the Upanishads, whenever it happened that someone would go to a sage and ask, "What is truth?" the sage would look hard at the person.

Again the person would ask, "What is truth?" Then he would ask a third time, "What is truth?"

And the sage would say, "I tell you again and again, but you don't understand."

The person would say, "What are you saying? I have asked you three times, and all three times you were silent. And you say that you have told me again and again?"

Then the sage would say, "I wish you were able to understand my silence, because then you will have understood what truth is."

Silence is the only way to say it. Those who have known truth have become silent. When truth is talked about, they become silent.

If you can be silent, you can know it. If you are not silent you will not be able to know it. You can know the truth, but you cannot make another person know it. This is why I won't say what truth is -- because it cannot be said.
For detailed palm reading and spiritual guidance Consult at: pravinjsoni97@hotmail.com

spiritalk
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Location: Etobicoke, Canada
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Post by spiritalk » Fri Aug 26, 2011 3:00 pm

The Kasidah, Part VI:

All faith is false, all faith is true:  Truth is the shattered mirror strewn in myriad bits; while each believes his little bit the whole to own.
God bless, J

Lax29
Posts: 102
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:10 pm

Post by Lax29 » Thu Apr 12, 2012 10:30 am

Truth is belief/faith

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