I am going to continue on the topic of What is Truth? for one very simple reason. This question was asked in the Mel Gibson movie The Passion of Christ. While I watched the movie, I found it to be very fascinating but yet a bit puzzled at that specific moment when the Governor was talking to his wife and he said "What is truth?" and a few lines later he said "My truth is ....". I actually sat back and smiled because I was thinking about what I said this morning. I have to admit that I didn't watch the movie for entertainment value but for one thing only, that is trying to figure out What is Truth. Truth is funny in many ways, there were many scenes and lines in the movie that I don't recall learning that in church, Sunday School or personal devotion. But regardless of those scenes and lines, the fundamental truth exist in the movie.

But is the fundamental truth the Absolute truth? I don't know, and I can't say yes or no here, basically truth depends on faith. The definition for faith, according to Hebrews 11:1 in New King James Version is "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." So if absolute truth depends on faith then the whole basis of Christianity is based on faith, not meaning that the so-called blue laws and laws that many of our politicians, especially President Bush are saying that has direct basis from the bible. Faith is things not seen, the bible does not meet the definition of Faith.

As asked by my question in the previous post, "What is truth?" My truth is based on many things, but ultimately the truth is the truth. It is a complicated concept. It is up to me to accept or not to accept what may be consider truth by another person. Just because I make that decision does not mean the person needs to take it personally. The second agreement from don Miguel Ruiz's book The Four Agreements is Don't take anything personally. Reading the excerpt of that agreement, Ruiz says:

Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

So in that format, my truth is my truth, and his/her truth is his/her truth, the absolute truth is absolute truth. There is no way we could mix it so that everyone can be happy. I believe that if I learn this truth of mine, I will be able to grin and bear it more easier when I am confronted with criticism, taunting, anger, yelling and other means of expression that would often send me into depression. This also goes for the other person, especially if I get angry. When I get angry it is not because of them, no but because I am angry at myself. Of course my poor housemates feels the anger from me. I wear my emotions on my sleeves.

I am going to end this post with a quote from a book I am currently reading. The book is titled Monastery Without Walls. It is about daily life in the silence.

The truth of being needs no convincing. There are no arguments, no claims, no promises necessary. The silence in us resonates with truth and recognizes love when it is with us. The truth of being recognizes that life is simple, and when it is not we know that we are out of touch with silence.

Good Morning everyone, as you can all read, that this is my first entry. Thanks to a friend who got me started on reading blogs and I discovered many of my friends from college are also doing blogs so I thought I might as well as join this ever growing group of bloggers. I have really enjoyed reading my friends' blogs and realizing that I want to find an avenue of exploring what is the truth in my perspective. It doesn't necessary mean that the truth I look at and polish will be the gem for the world to accept. I have acknowledged that this world is way too diverse for one truth to be an absolute for everyone.

What is truth? Is truth something that has been tried through fire like a fine gold has been? Is the truth like an iron ore that needs to be purified? Regardless of how we look at meaning of truth, because we know that truth isn't truth isn't truth. Yes I have repeated that on purpose, like we often say "a rose is a rose is a rose". It matters not what the truth may be, it is all based on how we see it. In this time and age and great exchange of information, our perspective on truth has changed so much unlike the old days when we usually trust a reliable source, like our government, our parents, people in authority and so forth.

When we question the truth, sometime we run the risk of offending the person where the "truth" may have came from. Resisting Authority, challenging the authority, being rebellious and so forth are usually the accusation we get when we question the truth. If anyone doesn't want me to question the truth, then I ask that they don't lie to me.

But what the hell am I ranting about here anyway? Oh yeah the truth...I had an opportunity to read a book titled The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz. The first agreement is "Be impeccable with your word". Sounds good, doesn't it? As Ruiz explains the agreement, it has made me reflect on my own integrity and whether or not my words are impeccable. This has me wondering if all those times I spent defending myself is because I try to prove my integrity even though I may be fudging around the truth, which was no longer the truth because I changed the truth. It boggles my mind that I can think like this. I believe that I spent quite too much time defending myself even when people may be joshing with me. I have vowed to make this agreement a part of my life. I want my words to be impeccable, so my words can be the truth in my life.