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Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Wednesday, August 8, 2018

truth


“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

 “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”
― Aldous Huxley, Complete Essays 2, 1926-29

 “Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
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Do we live in a post truth world?
Today, as I try to wade through the lies coming from almost every direction

The White House
Politicians on the stump
Websites
Memes

Even people I know,

I wonder about our relationship with the truth
I wonder about the power of truth

Right now it seems as if lies have more power than truth

And unlike Gandhi, I despair
I know the power of love and truth
Jesus was love and truth

But the tyrants, the greedy, the abusive
Right now they seem to be winning

And facts
Do they even matter any more
There are people out there who are angry and entrench because
They don’t bother with the facts
They choose a voice to trust, such as FOX, and that is the end of it

What is said becomes fact for them
And thus, as the Bible says, the good becomes evil and evil good

But mostly I worry because we all seem to be lying to ourselves
Those who follow the path to the far right lie, and say they don’t hate
They aren’t racists
They have compassion

Those who follow the path to the far left pretend they are more forgiving, more compassionate
Than those on the right, they aren’t
They are just a different flavor of angry, rigid and judgmental

And I
Dare I look in the mirror
In how many small ways do I ignore the facts
Pass on misconceptions and falsehoods
How many times do I pretend to be better than I am?

How dare I challenge the person who dehumanizes Muslims
Or is willing to throw immigrants to the wolves
When I have my own essential falshoods

What do I do, when immersed in many shades of gray
I lose my own grip on the truth
And thus lose my own fundamental ability

To speak the truth
And when I speak that truth
In love

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