How long do you want to ignore it?
It’s not just within the belief or the belief structure that truth is to be found. Truth is a feeling that a belief or belief structure evokes in an individual – a deep feeling of spiritual contentment. The feeling you get when the great void has been filled by something that cannot possibly be satisfied by the material.
The void that we constantly force into the background through obsessive Facebook checking, emails, smartphones, work, junk food, alcohol, porn, drugs, sex – even relationships. The void is that thing we always feel but rarely acknowledge, that certain je ne sais quoi that is always there in the background, causing us varying levels of existential insecurity.
Here are two opposite examples of people:
Jeff lives in London and has a high-flying job in the City. He used to take good care of himself and played rugby for the first team at university, but since he took up his job two years ago, he has put on seven kilos. He tells himself he will lose the weight again and get back into a gym routine, but right now he is just too busy with his job. And that bonus won’t come unless he puts in the hours. Jeff is filling the void with work – the motivating factor being money. What is the point in having that money if he can’t even do the things he enjoys doing? Jeff doesn’t want to think about it, he would prefer to ignore the void.
Charlotte lives in Alabama and is a housewife. She is a devout Christian and goes to church every Sunday. She prays every day and is very conservative by most standards. It says in the Bible, she explains, that a man must not lie with another man. Therefore, no matter how in love a gay couple are, they must not get married or have sexual contact because it is against God and is a sin. Having this strong belief, Charlotte believes, is infallible because it says so in the Bible. Fallible, though, surely, are human beings’ interpretations of the Bible – look at how many wars have been fought between Christians as a result of their varying interpretations of it. Charlotte is ignoring the void with blind faith.
So why do we ignore the void? Well, it’s so much easier isn’t it to get caught up in this material world and/or some kind of dogma than it is to work hard to find a path somewhere in the middle, neither renouncing entirely one thing nor embracing uncritically another thing.
We humans love to see things in black and white, to categorise everything so we feel we understand them. But has that ever worked, and when, at any point in human history, has believing rigidly in one thing or another not led to conflict? Aren’t we just ignoring the point of it all once we go so far as war? Surely truth is just a peaceful harmony, a chord that is struck that resonates deeply within us so as to treasure other living beings, rather than to harm them.
Through science, we gain knowledge of the material. It’s all very well, though, having this knowledge, but what use is knowledge without wisdom? Furthermore, is material knowledge alone what we really need right now? You don’t have to look far to see where knowledge without wisdom is taking us; down a bleak road of unsustainable living, overpopulating the earth and ignoring climate change until it’s too late, preferring instead to bury our heads in the sand and not think about it.
If we are to fully confront the issues we are faced with in today’s world, it needs to be a team effort. This can only be achieved if we stop indulging our ignorance and start to look inwards instead of seeking blame elsewhere.
We need to start re-exploring the spiritual with an open mind, with acceptance for science but without attachment to it. We need to engage in spiritual reconnaissance and come back with our own peaceful truths. Each individual must do the work, have the curiosity, the urge to understand and gain personal realisation of peaceful bliss. It depends on a mind-set that is achieved through training the mind through meditation, contemplation and reflection – always questioning the status quo.
The start to finding our truth is to gain a realisation that truth is a far deeper thing than any doctrine or dogma, science or pseudo-science, and that it is subtle. Once we realise this, it seems ludicrous to persecute or attack anyone else based on their beliefs. But at the moment we too easily let selfish human instinct lead the way and obstruct the way for wisdom.
Truth is just this. Right now, here, in this very moment. And that truth is just peace. Just fifteen minutes of focused meditation a day could be the start to a wiser society. Try it – what’s the worst that could happen?
Written by Dan Simmons
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