19 Dec Moving Around and Truth
I am currently moving around friends places until I sought out income and find the best place to study the environment.
I am used to travelling so it has been wonderful to catch up with old friends and talk about my world trip and what I’ve learned from my experience. Certainly I have a deep trust of people and have seen much generosity and kindness directed to me as I have moved around. The same is reciprocal here in Australia.
I moved to a good friend of mine’s place for a couple of days. She is living with a Hindu and a Buddhist naturopath. I was presented with a Christmas card from the Hindu guy (Australian) who after meeting me left me a christmas pack. My friend told me he is often doing kind things for people, he cooks for his housemates, picks them up, will sit with them so they are not lonely, he leaves lovely notes in mail boxes. Apparently he had a history of being an alcoholic and he really learned about himself. He has found god and this is his focus. I really loved his consideration as I have just come from New Zealand and was hosted by a couple whereby the man was completely the opposite, very self absorbed and uninterested in giving anything. I then met the other guy, the naturopath, we’ve met before and he was full of love and compliments. It was so nice to be welcomed. I thought this is our true nature. When we drop our defences and realise that life is about giving and abundance then we start to re-create community or indeed family.
My friend states it is a family and each other them assists the other. It was a really lovely place to stay and we had lots of long talks about life.
I have been speaking a lot about truth as I had a significant moment on the train the other day where I actually felt myself fall in love with truth. It sounds very different but on my own spiritual journey I have found myself falling in love with life. What that feels like is that you walk around and there is this amazing joy arising from within, you look upon every face with love as you feel so deeply happy. I have turned this feeling inward and feel it towards myself, not as an egoic experience but as a feeling of total acceptance of myself. I am very pleased these inner changes are happening as I am becoming able to love the world as it is. I feel this is where the true change is created.
The falling in love with truth was a surprise. The feeling I had was to speak more and more truth to myself and to others. It felt like an excitement. What I have really discovered is that truth is not about analytical cognitive answers that are confirmed or validated by others, it is about truthful intent. If we were to earnestly examine truth we would find that we really don’t know the truth. When I teach truth to children I use the metaphor of a mirror ball. It is little squares or mirrors that reflect outward. I imagine the ball as the earth and each panel as a person reflecting their truth. When we look into the ball we cannot see ourselves as there are so many truths, it can be confusing. However, if we look into one mirror, I use a nice pink fluffy heart mirror with the kids. I tell them only you know your truth. That is where you look if you want to find it. The world is a reflection of yourself. We are always operating from our inner world and projecting onto the outer world. So that is why truths change as we internally change. So for me, falling in love with truth has meant I will be observing myself more and more to ensure I am speaking and living my truth. I see nothing as more important as this. When I went to Gandhi’s ashram in Ahmedabad, Gujurat, India, it was there I knew I was on the right path and I understood why truth was Gandhi’s mantra, as you commit to it you become clearer and you also attract more conflict as your adherence to your own truth can rub against others truth’s. However, as you are challenged you learn more. As I say in my analogy I created for a Children’s Parliament, to melt the ICE of confusion. ICE is to inspire, challenge and empower. This replaces debate and becomes creative rather than reactive. Challenging is very important to help us to find our truth, so I am for different viewpoints being open and engaging. However, this is done in a nonviolent way, not a divisive us and them approach but one of curiosity and exploration. This is how we find the solutions we are all seeking.
So find your truth and speak it, but do it with gentleness, openness and with an attitude that you may be wrong. This is the beginning of wisdom….
Don’t forget to smile whilst playing with it.