I know quite a few people who believe there is a thing called ultimate truth. They believe that, if you tear away all the artificiality of life, at the bottom lies the word and the word is what is real.
I don't buy it because PERCEPTION colors everything we see. How we each perceive something colors what we believe to be true. Even if there is some sort of absolute entity, truth is nothing more than THEIR perception of things.
I got to thinking about this topic due to a series of events in my family's life this past week. We had a sewage back-up in our basement which caused us to have to deal with our insurance company, a plumbing contractor and a sewage removal firm. Each of these businesses was suspicious of the other.
The first two thought the latter was overcharging. The latter two thought the insurance company was low-balling everything. Each representative of the 3 companies we spoke to saw truth in different terms.
In the end, we didn't feel that any of them had a corner on truth. They each came to the situation from different angles and this colored what each deemed to be fact. (Of course, WE came at the situation from a different angle too!)
I don't buy it because PERCEPTION colors everything we see. How we each perceive something colors what we believe to be true. Even if there is some sort of absolute entity, truth is nothing more than THEIR perception of things.
I got to thinking about this topic due to a series of events in my family's life this past week. We had a sewage back-up in our basement which caused us to have to deal with our insurance company, a plumbing contractor and a sewage removal firm. Each of these businesses was suspicious of the other.
The first two thought the latter was overcharging. The latter two thought the insurance company was low-balling everything. Each representative of the 3 companies we spoke to saw truth in different terms.
In the end, we didn't feel that any of them had a corner on truth. They each came to the situation from different angles and this colored what each deemed to be fact. (Of course, WE came at the situation from a different angle too!)
Trey wrote: "I know quite a few people who believe there is a thing called ultimate truth. They believe that, if you tear away all the artificiality of life, at the bottom lies the word and the word is what is real."
ReplyDeleteResponse: There is a sub-stratum which underlies the transitory forms and phenomena of life, and it could be said to be what is real, but it is certainly not "the word" as is thought by the people that you said you know.
That underlying reality is simply pure primordial Awareness, also known as pure Consciousness. Without Awareness/Consciousness, nothing can be thought, perceived, known, or experienced. Ultimate truth or not, nothing can be known without this unborn primordial Awareness. Fortunately, it is beginningless and endless and indestructable. It is also known as the way of all things, the Tao.
Trey wrote: "I don't buy it because PERCEPTION colors everything we see. How we each perceive something colors what we believe to be true. Even if there is some sort of absolute entity, truth is nothing more than THEIR perception of things.
Response: Perception is only possible as a function and manifestation of pure Awareness. So yes, thoughts, concepts, ideas, and limited perceptions of so-called "truth" are merely relative and can never be the "ultimate truth" itself. This is because it is pure consciousness which is the fundamental context for such notions and points of view to arise.
The conclusion is this: the only thing which can be identified as the underlying reality of life, perception, knowledge, and experience, is that of Awareness itself. In as much as primordial Awareness itself, is by nature non-dual, it transcends all duality, including the duality of "ultimate truth" vs. relative truth.
posted by: who
Both of you have provided good food for thought!
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