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A western philosopher wrote
beautifully: Please don't take lies away. Let man live on them, live with
them.
Truth is too much for us to
bear. Our lies become deep-seated in life. Lies turn out to be the base on
which we live and further lie.
We cannot handle too much
truth. If truth is ,say, up to 30% to 40%, we can take it well. Beyond that,
the truth starts transforming us. We feel that the ground upon which we are
standing is giving way.
To be honest, none of us
really want to know the truth. If truth and nothing but truth is given, no
one would listen, except perhaps a few teachers.
When truth is spoken people
get frightened. Truth frightens both the speaker and the listener.
In our life, we don't want to see the truth.
Why else would we wear make up, dye the hair, or dress up ? We cannot accept
the truth of ageing. We pretend, fantasise, and lie. We dress up colourfully
to hide from the true self within ourselves. We know that we are not what we
show ourselves to be.
There are many other ways in
which we try to hide the truth. Why do you think we have so many formal,
social courtesies ? We respect each other. We are taught, from childhood, to
say please and thank you, irrespective of whether we mean it or not, and
whether the situation demands it or not. We say it because social etiquette
demands so.
Whenever we meet someone, we
say 'Nice to meet you', even though we may not like that person.
When we really feel nice, our
whole body, our being will show it. We don't need to say 'nice to meet you'
for the other person to understand that you are happy to meet him or her.
Our body language, smile, and our sheer pleasure of meeting that person will
be obvious.
We dare not face the truth in
any language. We know that the truth is usually something else. Neither
verbally nor in the body language do we feel comfortable being truthful.
But, the moment we imbibe a
single point or any single dimension of truth in any way, if we catch an
idea and imbibe it honestly truthfully, it can do wonders. Truth gives us
enlightenment; it transforms us.
When we meditate we rise in
truth. We become aware of our true Self. |
