TRUTH: THE HIGHEST PRINCIPLE
by Paul Hourihan

Truth …?

We hear much of this from Christ, Buddha, the Hindu texts … from all philosophers.

Christ’s words to Pilate: “I have come to bear witness to the Truth.”

Buddha: “Truth is Life.”

Upanishads (main Vedantic scriptures): Constant emphasis on the Truth.

As though there really is one saving, eternal, universal Truth of being that will enlighten and free us forever!

Is there?

You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free …

Buddha believed it. Vedanta believes it.

Let’s analyze this saying:

Knowledge of the truth will make us free. Obviously we are not free now. That means we do not have knowledge of the Truth. What do we have? Knowledge of untruth. It is untruth that is the foundation of our lives. And in that untruth is our bondage, our lack of freedom. For surely we are not free, we are in bondage to so many things. This is assumed by Christ, by St. Paul, by Buddha, by all the scriptures of India.

Therefore it behooves us to find our way out of this bondage of untruth by knowing the truth. Realization of the truth, says Christ, will make us free.

Which means that the state we are in now is an illusion, a false state. We conclude that because if we can move from one state producing bondage to another which produces freedom, then obviously it is ignorance of the truth that constitutes our bondage. Ignorance of what we are, of what the truth is, constitutes our lack of freedom.

Hence our lack of freedom, is not only false, but also illusory, like a dream. Truly like a dream! In a dream we are in bondage, feel we are, feel the fears, the terrors, the compulsions. . . . It is upon waking that we know the truth and it is the knowledge alone that frees us. We do not have to go anywhere. We merely turn from ignorance, which is the dream-consciousness, to knowledge of our condition, which is the consciousness of truth, to come into the true state, our true state.

So our present bondage is dream-like. Is merely false. Our sins, weaknesses, bondage, fears, limitations, and all the rest are merely false, based on ignorance … say the Upanishads, the Vedantic scriptures.

Ignorance is the original sin, they say. Remove the ignorance and the sun of knowledge shines forth on a condition that was always there—as our true freedom from dream-fears was always there during our dream-bondage. We have merely to wake up to know the truth. So here, we have merely to awaken to know the truth, to wake from our ignorance. Our sins, then, are merely the result of ignorance. When we are no longer ignorant, when we know the truth, we shall no longer sin … no longer hate, lust, rage, grasp, fight, and all the rest. Those things being the result merely of not knowing what and who we are!

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You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free!

I come to bear witness to the Truth, Christ told Pilate.

It is the truth that saves … not a man. Christ doesn’t say: I will make you free. That, if it were possible, would enthrone him above the Truth, which is above all men. You shall know the truth—that will make you free. Truth being God in another mode. He came to bear witness to the highest principle … namely, the Truth.

TRUTH IS LIFE, says Buddha. That is, spiritual life, divine life, immortal life.

What is death, then? Self, he said—self is death. That means, then, that self is ignorance, or is sprung from ignorance—ignorance of who I am and what I am. When I have passed beyond ignorance I will not manifest the self, which is the false ego-self that presently dominates my life and personality.

Truth is Life … Self is death.

Vedanta says this false self that is death according to Buddha, is merely the result of our ignorance of what that self really is. Namely, the Great, the Divine, the Universal Self individualized in me, in you, in one and all!

For further information on Vedanta:  What is Vedanta?

See also under Words of Wisdom: Truth

THE PERSONAL VS IMPERSONAL AND THE TRUTH IN ALL
by Paul Hourihan, excerpt from a lecture on Mysticism, edited by Anna Hourihan

Mysticism is the doctrine or outlook that declares there is a divine or transcendental reality in the world—something beyond the senses and this can be contacted and known directly. It is within the power and capability of everyone to do this. Mysticism is direct experience of the Divine, of the Godhead, of that which is infinite. It is the immediate, personal, and direct knowledge of this Ultimate Reality. We may not have the exact same meanings or ideas about terms like Godhead and the Divine, but it’s still the same reality, so we shouldn’t be put off by the terms.

Some have a more personal approach to religion or mysticism, or to this whole subject and others have an impersonal, nonreligious, nondevotional approach to it. For instance, the followers of Zen take a nonreligious approach and typically followers of Christianity take the other extreme. In between, we have Hinduism, including Vedanta, and various types of mysticism that take either or both. But these terms are only human inventions, after all; it won’t change the fact of the Reality itself.

Hence, we should keep in mind that we are not discussing a religious viewpoint or particular path but rather an indwelling reality or presence or power that is the supreme fact of the world, whatever we may call it. We can call it God, or Nirvana, or Brahman, or Allah, or Ultimate Reality. I believe all these are names for the same reality. And we could have many other names, too, but the reality is not changed by this, nor is it changed by the differences in mystics themselves—those who have experienced this reality. Often they will give a different interpretation of the same experience. This is natural in that they have different backgrounds, upbringings, temperaments, genders and other things that contribute to a different way of looking at the world. Therefore, if hundreds of mystics down through the centuries all have the same experience, they will perhaps give us different interpretations of it, which often confuse us. As a result, we may wonder which is the truth. But, as we look more closely at what they’re saying, there is a high presumptive evidence of some universal identity or reality that they have all experienced. They're trying to suggest its meaning to those who have not had it, and their similarities are far more abundant and impressive than their dissimilarities. The dissimilarities in their interpretations are due to cultural, religious, regional, historical, personality, and temperamental differences. All of these things make a great deal of difference, at least in the approach of the mystic to the mountain. But there is a mountain to be climbed. Zen, or Christianity, or Islam, for example—each declares and affirms the existence of this mystical mountain. Those from one tradition climb up one side and those of other traditions climb up the other sides, but as they reach the top their experience is presumably the same, except that the different route they have followed colors the rendering of the experience.

We should remember this as we wonder if it can be true that there is a personal and impersonal God. We hear reports about both, which is true? Can both be true? This is the broadest distinction perhaps among the many distinctions on the path of mysticism and realization.

The mind teases us with the idea that there is conflict between the personal path of devotion and the impersonal path of knowledge; between love and understanding; between the heart and the mind.

Actually, there is none... The higher truth is Oneness. A somewhat lower truth—though still the truth manifesting in that manner—is the idea of two, of Creator and creature.

Devotion is grounded in the reality of two—of the soul (not knowing its true relation with the Divine yet) and the Supreme Soul. This dualistic approach may manifest as devotion to another soul, to a saint, to a divine incarnation, or to the Formless Being of the Godhead conceived for the purposes of devotion as being a God of Love.

Hence, it is true, there are two from one standpoint: There is the Self,* the source of our being, and then there is the individual self or the ordinary self not yet aware of its true identity with its source. Ultimately, in the final analysis, there is only the One. But until the experience has come of that transcendental Reality, which mysticism speaks of, the two are there.

* This term, which is another name for Brahman or Ultimate Reality, is used in the Vedanta philosophy.

See What is Vedanta? Words of Wisdom: Spiritual Life and Mysticism  and also Children of Immortal Bliss Excerpts (PDF)

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