Brace for impact: incoming rant….
What is truth?
Where does truth live?
How do we know when we’ve found it?
Like everyone else on the planet, I grew up believing that what I was told by those who tended to me on a daily basis (inside the family circle, i.e. parents/grandparents/older siblings) and their chosen surrogates (those outside the family circle, like teachers, religious leaders, doctors, experts, professionals, etc.) was absolute truth and therefore, reality. (Parents do not negotiate with their children on the dynamics of reality. They simply declare the one they have chosen to be the ‘right’ one for then.) It is far too frightening for children – and for many, dangerous – to think otherwise when your wellbeing of body, mind and Spirit is beyond the boundaries of your own resourcefulness and fully in the hands of these others.
(NOTE: The words of ‘truth’, ‘reality’, ‘story’ are all nominalization. They represent a concept or a construct and are not the thing, itself. They do not exist in a world of matter, meaning: you cannot put a pound of truth, reality or story in the trunk of your car. The words are intended to trigger a state of being that exists within a thought bubble and represents the framework for – at final conclusions – choices and behaviours. In this rant, these three words are used interchangeably.)
Truth was determined to be so by the Storytellers in our lives. The expectation of us – as offspring – was that we would submit to the Storyteller and comply with the story; and eventually, ensure its survival by becoming the next generation of its telling. And on and on it goes….
For many children, there were severe consequences for ever questioning (or, in the Storyteller’s view, challenging) a purported truth/story; or seeking clarity for a deeper understanding of that truth/story. The truth/story simply was… and it was equally simply to be accepted as such, by the children: these tiny people without leverage in their own lives.
The collective of the same-story storytellers colluded (intentionally or otherwise) to form a bubble of reality – a framework of intention – which would replicate at all times, in all places, the agreed-upon story . (The story at home was the same as the story at church which was the same as the story at school, etc. Notice the patterning and how that reaffirms, over and over again?) Doing so ensured that my choices were guided by an influence that would continue – as I aged – to mold my reality in a way that was already familiar to generations before and to those that would follow.
Along the way, inside my body, I began to notice that this ’truth’ did not always sit right. What I was being told did not match what I was witnessing. With the passage of time and my own maturing, conflicting ideas and rampant hypocrisy became too obvious to ignore… or brush aside when I could not ignore what was under my nose.
As a child, authority usually presents in ways that are very close to home… to that bubble that holds the framework of an intention for a world that thrives on repetition and habit of behaviour and mind.
In my (now) many years of my own evolution and in engaging with others, I am convinced that we become sick and crazy when our secret, often-silent inner truth no longer easily aligns with the ‘bubble’ truth. Far too often, we are willing to sacrifice our personal wellbeing of body and mind to ensure that we can remain part of that bubble or, worse, avoid intentional harm. We live in a world that more easily accepts and embraces ’sick and crazy’ than it does ‘different and defiant’. We feign submission to the marketed truth/story while, inside – where we live – the erosion of our authenticity begins to slide into the slow decay of a life that is no longer our own.
Parenting is a process, handed down mindlessly from one generation to the next. Parenting is also the process that forms the delivery mechanism for culture. Through the process of having been parented; and through the parenting of our own children, we repeat and reinforce the ‘status quo’ of that bubble of reality…. unless somewhere along the line, we stop… allow the history of our own lives to catch up to us… and design something else for ourselves. We (every single one of us) are conditioned before the age of seven to see and affirm reality/truth as seen from inside that bubble. Those who dare question/challenge are met with a severity of consequence that ensures we will not do that, again. At least, not out loud and in the presence of others.
Parenting is also a Sacred Cow of culture. The truth/story told through the process of parenting is the very underpinning not only of our existing reality but of our capacity – as adults – for shaping reality in a way that is both authentic to and meaningful for the person we choose to become. In today’s world, that process of parenting is being challenged and pressed and mutilated as many seek to steal away the child from the parent’s influence… and become the surrogate for a very different story/reality. The degree to which it is becoming very ugly; the degree to which social, governmental and political entities are entering the fray says a lot about the imperative of shaping young minds. As the Jesuits would say: give me a child until they’re 7 and I will have them for the rest of their lives. The stakes are very, very high!
To question the bubble of reality is to question intention; to question what purpose the chosen reality serves and what outcomes it is intended to produce. Culturally conditioned reality has a purpose: it is intended and designed for imprinting an absolute truth without dissent. “This IS how it is.. because I say so.”
We become adults who equate the voice of authority (i.e. parental surrogates) with the voice of truth. After all, that is how we have been trained. We are adults who continue to respond to the truth of authority with the deeply-embedded and simplistic response of compliance; of acceptance that authority is always right and always has our best interests at heart. So strong is the imprinting of this perspective on our young minds, we cannot fathom for a nanosecond that those charged with our wellbeing would ever do anything to harm us (translation: government/experts/etc would never lie to us or deceive us or betray us). This bonding to the notion of ‘trustworthy authority’ is particularly strong amongst those who suffered the most: those for whom physical and/or emotional violence and brutality shaped their earlier years. Consider those who remain committed to corporeal punishment/physical assault while saying to their victim: “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you!” or “I’m doing this for your own good… because I love you” or…. fill in the blank. Your Storytellers may have had a favourite. “Spare the rod and spoil the child’ still lives in our 21st Century world. At the level of government authority, it has translated into mandated behaviours for medical procedures, against our will, ‘…for your own good’ and ‘… to protect you… keep you safe’.
After all, that is what caring ‘parents’ do: they keep us safe. Safe from some outside marauder that is going to ravage and destroy us. Heard any of that in the last few years? Have you noticed how the language of ‘safe’ has become the trigger word to press for compliance? After all, who in their right mind would not want to be safe – and our surrogate parental authority of government will, of course, do that for us… even if they have to destroy us in the process.
We grew up well knowing the imperfection of our parents and the degree to which the thick veil of denial, avoidance and hypocrisy sough to block our ability to see. We eventually came to know equally well when our own parents lied, deceived or betrayed our own best interests. And in the face of long-standing experience with and often painful consequences for doing otherwise, we kept it to ourselves. We went along to get along. We said ‘yes’ when our body screamed ‘no’. And yet, for many of us and despite the ‘knowing’, we turned around and did the same to our own children. Intergenerational parenting processes live to shape another generation.
It is now becoming very clear that over the last 2+ years, we have been lied to… deceived… mislead. The results are undeniable. With the passage of time, there is now sufficient evidence to reveal a concerted effort – globally – to push for/mandate behaviours that are in contravention of individual rights. And still, continue to do so even in the face of evidence to the contrary. It is remarkable to me the degree to which there is no shame for such abhorrent behaviours on the part of those we have trusted to act on our behalf : our parental surrogates of political, governmental and corporate ‘leaders’. In the face of massive and mounting evidence, the strategy of these purported leaders is to look straight into the camera and lie their faces off. Perhaps that is how naive, child-like and ignorant they believe us – theyir ‘charges’ – to be. Or perhaps, they just know: we have been well trained into compliance. Sadly, we do not disappoint.
Which brings me to my point for today: I am noticing that in all the research that I have done/do, it would seem that there is a delicate dance that goes on around intention. You know how it goes: the relationship between choice and intention. So much caution to ensure avoidance of the ‘intention’ conversation. What is the intention behind this global, concerted and co-ordinated effort? What is the intention behind these political, government and corporate ‘leaders’ as they weave, together, to create a roadmap to ensuring compliance of the masses – of billions of citizens in countries around the world – with a directive that, clearly, has been taboo to question in any way, at any level. Already, countless have paid the price for questioning with their reputations, their livelihoods and often, their lives.
“A needle in every arm!” The press continues despite the evidence that offering up the arm will not prevent transmission; and the harms are overwhelming. My question remains: why? When the ‘pandemic’ ceases to exist; when the evidence of greater harm and damage with the jab far surpasses that without, what is the underlying intention that presses for the game to continue? I wonder…
Sadly, we are culturally conditioned not only to NOT question… we are culturally conditioned to pressure our ’siblings’ (i.e. neighbours, family members, ‘the other’ of all stripes etc.) into compliance, as well. Fear of retaliation of authority; fear of being caught in the crossfire; fear of the consequences splattering on us… cause us to be good little girls and boys and just go along… trusting that authority has our best interests at heart.
We are trained… culturally conditioned… mind-shaped into a knee-jerk response of compliance and capitulation when it comes to the voice/voices of ‘authority’, particularly when embedded in the provocation of fear. We should not berate ourselves for this – our training has been intentional, often brutal and to this day, extremely effective. Our relationship to authority, in any of its many forms, is not by accident.
I still remember the days of being in my 20’s… a capable, responsible and self-sustaining adult until I went home to visit my parents. I would cross the threshold into their home and in a nano-second, would find myself a compliant eight-year-old. Lost… to my history and my great desire to want the illusion to be real: that not only would another take care of me… attend to my tough choices… but that they were better at living my own life than I was. Jeezus!!!! Took like what seemed forever to move beyond that one. And to move beyond it, I had to look behind the green curtain and realize: they were fallible… imperfect.. and often terrified. I soon discovered that realization applied to ALL the surrogates I held as authority in my Life. In that moment; in that single realization, the game ended.
One thing I now know for sure: the government/corporate/political surrogates do not have my best interests at heart. What I would now like to know: what are theirs? .
I now think of truth as that which is authentic in its way of seeking to be perceived relative to its underlying intention. Authentic. Inside you, you have a bullshit detector that tells you when you are in the presence of that which is authentic and that which is not. Your bullshit detector is innate to the function of your nervous system… and will guide you, if you allow it to do so. Will guide you to call bullshit when you are being lied to and dare say it out loud and in the presence of others. And let the chips fall where they may.
Without allowing your fully functioning bullshit detector to become a legitimate part of your day-to-day living, you have nothing to rely on other than what surrogate/authority says. Not a wise choice if we want to remain a free people, with a voice to match.
Here is what I know:
There is no absolute truth. There are stories and storytellers. As an adult, you get to decide which story/storytellers you choose; and whether or not you choose to surrender to them or – heaven forbid! – choose to write your own story.
There is your right to ask questions.. to challenge… to wait and observe and ponder. “I don’t know” and “Not now” are legitimate answers and choices.
There is your right to discover and grow and evolve.
There is your right to change your mind… and then change it again when you discover something different and continue to evolve.
There is your right to say: No!… or Not now…. or I don’t know. Compliance is an option and not an imperative for your survival.
It is not truth we seek – it is the willingness and ability to trust in the power of our own internal cues. Our constant and perpetual evolution as a state of Being makes way for us to design a very different truth/reality from that which has infused our history and our cells.
Do not seek the ever-elusive Unicorn of an absolute truth. Seek instead, to learn how to discover… and grow… and perpetually evolve. Seek instead to learn how to attend to your own wholeness and healing. Seek instead to take ownership of your own mind… and let go of the need to simply repeat that which is imposed from outside of you. Your safety – of body and mind – is an inside job.
As children, we just swallow it whole because we cannot be sufficiently discerning to do otherwise. There are no children here. Each of us has the capacity to look past the propoganda… past the imposed story and expand our thinking to include the perspectives of those others who are not under its spell. For that, our curiosity must become greater than our fear of finding out: they do not have our best interests at heart – they have their own…. and those are not being shared with ’the children’.
The further we go from our inner truth, the more fragile we feel and the more vulnerable we become. Desperate for some sense of being tethered to a predictable ‘reality’, we become malleable… and an easy mark for the first snake-oil salesman who promises ‘safety’. We become willing to easily compromise who we are in exchange for the promise that the chaos will stop. We barter essential Being for a steady hand at the wheel, even when we are blind to the destination. We become more dependent on any and all stories that are perpetrated around us that offer an ‘out’ from our uncertainty. We become confused, having no idea what truth is, let alone where it is/can be found. This is not by accident. Without a sense of being grounded in our inner cues, we are cut adrift and lost to any and all winds that blow. We will never find truth outside of ourselves. We can only know truth when its vibration aligns with the inner cues that shape our expression of Being in the creation of our unique experience of Life. The rest is story and storytellers.