The Path to Truth

The Path to Truth

The path to divine Truth is not what people expect it to be.

We may look at the fundamentalist believers of various religions who follow the literal meaning of their sacred texts, and laugh at their narrow-mindedness. We may imagine that we are more open-minded than most people. We may feel that we have a source of knowledge that is far beyond what other people have.

Yet as long as we look to books, gurus, and teachers, we have only gone, perhaps, one more step closer to Truth, but have not actually gone all the way.

We all know people who take the "word of God" literally. Sometimes we have been one of those people ourselves, and have come to realize that the sacred word of God is more than a prop for a narrow sect or religion. We have seen, perhaps, that there are essential truths within all the religions. We may have concluded that there is only one Source behind them all, and thus looked to each religion as being only one of many outer appearances or forms.

Nevertheless in all of this the pure, unadulterated Truth itself has remained elusive. The "truth that sets us free" of this world of illusion is something that many people claim to have but very few people actually demonstrate. We may suspect that the liberating Truth remains something that is a mystery and a secret which, perhaps, we feel that we may one day uncover. We may imagine that when we become worthy and wise, a teacher will arrive to inform us of the greatest secrets of the world — secrets of initiation and the hidden teachings of the mystery schools.

But is this so? Is not divine Truth ever-present? It may be that we are unaware of Truth not because we are inadequate, unworthy, or because our karma does not permit it, but because we are not in a mental place in which such things may be told to us. We are cut off not because of any fault or inadequacy, but because we have — unknown to ourselves — chosen to cut ourselves off. How is this possible?

People grow in their spirituality and thus enter wider and wider spheres of thought. They graduate from narrow-minded fundamentalism or skepticism to teachings that promote unity, brotherhood, and unselfish service to humanity. They may then feel that they have arrived at some place of truth that they were not otherwise in, and to the certain extent this is valid and understandable, for surely the vast nature of TRUTH is not accessible to the narrow dogmatist. And yet, even as they have chosen a wider sphere of thought, they have - chosen a wider sphere of thought. And unknown to themselves, that sphere is still not wide enough in order to access the whole Truth of Life.

Universal Truth has no boundaries, spheres, or limits. We may become more and more inclusive, more and more open, but until we see the emptiness and inherent falsehood of everything that we know, divine Truth will remain unknown to us.

It is easy to see, as we have said, the foolishness of the narrow-minded fundamentalist of any faith. But in the sight of God, all teachings, all religions, and all philosophies of every kind are equally narrow, for they all shut out the light of Truth, which is well beyond all mental conceptions and understanding. They all establish a human substitute for Truth in mental knowledge. By its very nature, that mental knowledge cannot enfold or encompass the divine, limitless Reality. The conceptions and ideals of the dualistic mind can never grasp or approach the non-dual, transcendent Truth.

Thus if we claim to be a follower of religion "X" or philosophy "Y" or teaching "Z" we are simply describing the mental limitations that we have accepted for ourselves, the prison house that we choose to live in, and the barrier we have set between ourselves and God. Therefore the very first step that any person needs to take to approach Truth is to give up all of our cherished and long-held mental conceptions.

There is a Truth for which all acquisition of knowledge is a waste of time and energy. There is a Wisdom that is beyond all the words that have ever been spoken on earth, It is only when all outer institutions, religions, philosophies, and teachings are dropped that this inner Wisdom is accessible. It is only when our human knowledge is let go that the Divine inspiration may flow.

Most people, of course, do not see it this way. They feel that they will obtain divine Wisdom by means of their philosophy, and obtain salvation by following their religion. But the proof is in the results that they obtain. The scholars continuously read book after book, the new age seekers listen to teacher after teacher, the religious followers pour over every word in their sacred texts over and over... and what does it gain them? As a result they spin round and round within the sphere of the mind, pretending to make progress, pretending to evolve, pretending to release themselves from karma, and pretending to be liberated.

Surely one would think that all these people would actually listen to the great teachers of the ages. It is said that Gotama Buddha taught people to search for the Truth alone. We are also told that Jesus said, "the Truth will set you free." But who will look for the Truth alone? Instead people are really looking at Buddha, at Jesus, and whatever other teacher or master they follow instead of Truth. People build a mental construct of philosophy, dogma, and thought. People continuously believe that their minds can know Truth when the human mind is totally incapable of knowing Truth. And by this false belief they build a wall between themselves and Truth. A wall that they do not see. A wall that they lovingly cherish and build stronger. A wall that shuts God out.

The whole Truth of Life is only knowable when all human constructs are let go, when all philosophizing is put to rest and when the mind is no longer trusted to impart knowledge. Truth is only known when we are continuously dissatisfied with every human construct and ideal, and unwilling to accept any substitute for God whatsoever. only then can we come to the door through which Truth may appear.

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