Is one perspective or truth superior to another?

***

How do you resolve the paradox of truth?

[note: by “paradox of truth” I mean the apparent contradictions that exist between the varied perspectives, beliefs, and awareness of each of the 7 plus billion expressions of the one that are alive on our planet right now.

For example, someone living in a parched land might say that receiving rain is the highest expression of resonance from nature they can imagine. Whereas my neighbors here in Colorado might have a different perspective on this after the flooding over the last week.

Or take two people who live in the same community. One values one set of religious beliefs above all others – whereas another values a different set of beliefs as superior to all others. Because each set of beliefs arises from a different tradition, contradictions and tension arise. Perhaps these two argue about which beliefs are right. Perhaps they take up arms against one another. Who is right?

Consider two others who share the same community and beliefs. One has come to a place where the deepest expression of her beliefs is a practice of silence and sitting in meditation. The other feels that dancing and singing is the deepest expression. Who is right?]

***

A man was walking along a mountain road in the summer. He set aside his backpack containing warmer clothes thinking “It’s warm – I don’t need to carry this extra weight.” As he continued walking the nights grew cool and he realized that the pack he had abandoned would now be helpful in staying warm. As he walked he discovered an abandoned pack and picked it up and was warm.

Later he found he valued sitting in one beautiful place, so he built a cabin from the trees on the site and cut wood to stay warm by a fire. Still later he found that living in a cave by the edge of the lake offered the deepest experience of the Divine. Later he found even deeper peace at the top of the mountain peak. Eventually he found sitting in the woods with no shelter, exposed to the elements and all aspects of nature to be the most exquisite experience of his true nature.

One summer day a young man carrying a pack approached the man in the woods sitting quietly. The young man took off his pack, for it weighed too much, and contained clothing to protect against elements that weren’t currently in season.

He saw the old man sitting quietly in the forest and he approached, asking his advice: “Should I carry my pack? What is the best way forward on this path that I am walking?”

The old man simply said: “You can’t make a mistake. Whatever you choose will be perfect.”

Years later when that young man had grown old, he found the most exquisite experience of his true nature to be sitting inside his large mansion protected from the heat and the rain and the wind, overlooking the sea.

Youngsters just getting started on their journey would seek him out, wondering how they too could enjoy an abundant life.

When they asked, he would tell them the point of the journey is to discover and experience your true nature.

When they asked how to discover and experience their true nature, he directed them to the forest where they found a very old man sitting naked in the forest covered with moss, with trees and grass growing up from between his toes.

As they approached one by one to find the secret to discovering and experiencing their true nature, he would answer: “You walk your own journey, and as you walk, you will discover and experience yourtrue nature. You can’t make a mistake. Whatever you choose will be perfect.”

***

Each who heard these words trusted what the old man had shared.

Some choices took them closer to their true nature – others further away. Looking back on their lives, they realized that even those experiences that took them further away from discovering and experiencing their true nature eventually served to bring them back to their truth, their resonance.

***

How will you discover and experience your true nature?

***

That’s it for this week … From My Heart.

Peace,

Ken

Ken Stone

The Soul Archaeologist
Experience the Divine Within
www.KenWStone.com