Everyone has a personal truth that is based on their own unique reality perspective by virtue their own personal background and experience. At a high level, they are born into a unique society with established religious and personal conduct beliefs, and more specifically, they are born to a unique family situation of parents, siblings, and other relations that fine tune these cultural beliefs. Beyond that, everyone encounters a particular, unique set of life experiences that further shapes their own personal reality perspective. The result is that every one of these billions of people living on this planet has a very unique personal identity and perspective on reality that is their very personal truth.
Personal truths are further complicated by the fact that we all have elements of our personal truth that we do not want to make generally available to everyone else. The simplest, most honest expression of this withholding is just not talking about certain things that we consider to be too private for whatever reason, but more complex types of withholdings involves deliberately trying to deceive others away from these truths about us. Sometimes these personal truths are things that we don’t even want to acknowledge ourselves. In some cases, the deception can be taken to the extreme of wanting to appear one way to some and quite another way to some others. Typically, these deceptions are for personal gain, but they can really complicate one’s life with many not being able to sort through their own internal deceptions.
In the context of these unique realities, everyone is trying to create a sense of what they believe to be true about themselves in their life. This sense of personal truth is derived directly from one’s own personal life experiences and indirectly from their own personal analysis of that experience. Additionally, this personal truth includes anything else they may have been told which they choose to believe.
This relative sense of personal truth does not actually have to be based on reality and facts. In fact, it is highly likely that many parts of it are incorrect because the great mystery of life is not widely understood leaving a lot of room for error. This personal truth is the typical collection of ‘I know’ and ‘I believe’ with the ‘I believe’ being the source of all our troublesome illusions. This personal truth is simply what a particular person accepts as true for whatever collection of reasons, and their reality gets adjusted around those core beliefs they have accepted as true.
Our goal in life has to be sorting through the ‘I believe’ to ultimately reach our correct personal truth. This goal is much easier said than done, but the simple start for this complex task results from the realization that all personal truth centers on the two core questions of ‘Who am I?’ and ‘What am I?’.
Who Am I?
Our identity is a composite of things that have been done for us and those things that we have done of our own accord. We can become the person that we want to be, but we have to work in the context of the particular circumstances that were available to us.Many of these composite things have been decided for us. The particulars of our body (e.g. hair/eye color, gender, and body proportions) are largely determined by our biology. The members of our immediate family (i.e. blood relatives) are beyond our control. The particulars of our station in life are initially set by the station of our parents at the time of our birth though this can change either up or down as our life progresses by our own doing.
As life progresses, there are many things that we can decide for ourselves. We can choose the people with whom we wanted to associate from the persons we encounter, and we can to an extent define the nature of those associations (e.g. friend, lover, business associate). Extended family (i.e. spouses and in-laws) are also selected at our discretion from the limited pool of persons in our sphere of influence. We also choose the things that interest us and establish the direction we want to take in life.
The progression of thinking on this question of ‘who am I?’ starts with simple life decisions, but over time (perhaps a very long period of time) it progresses to the deeper, more obviously spiritual questions directed at understanding these internal forces that drive and shape our lives. Perhaps these deeper questions start with some sort introspective quest such as counseling or meditation. Ultimately, there is a realization that there is something beyond the obvious that would be worth knowing.
What Am I?
The question of what we are is not as obvious to everyone as a question that even needs to be asked. Many just assume they are a physical body, but there are all these non-body related issues that they are handling without realizing they are beyond body. This simple oversight can further complicate an already complicated life.
From birth, most assume they are a simple body. A body is an incredible thing to have and our initial exposure to it is typically overwhelming. Most early life experience is body centric which is appropriate when we are focused on the issues of establishing some measure of control over this marvelous machine and are caught in the pure joy of the sensory discover of the world around us.
Both science and western religion tend to put too much emphasis on the body as the main or only element of the human experience. Some scientists gravitate to materialist and physicalist opinions about reality that pretty much ignores consciousness. Western religions also place all too much importance on the body with their resurrection of the dead notions and attentions focused on the concept of an immortal soul which is a mysteriously body like immortal thing that only humans have. Proper care and attention to the body’s needs to ensure that it is healthy and whole are important in spirituality, but we all eventually come to discover that the body is actually secondary in overall importance to that of the spirit consciousness.
At some point, our lives switch focus from issues of the body to issues of the heart and mind. As the heart and mind develop, they have their own particular set of needs that require attention just as the body had needs during its developmental stages. The problem however is that many people are still focused on the body and try to address the emerging mind and heart issues as though they were just new body issues.
The truth is that the body and consciousness though seamlessly blended together are actually two very distinct entities. Their needs are different, and for both to function properly, they both require their needs be addressed. For some people, this human identity dichotomy makes them feel inclined to practice yoga and/or meditation. These practices as originally conceived thousands of years ago are designed to facilitate this realization that a body and a spirit (aka consciousness) exist, and if properly applied, it nurtures both body and consciousness.
Historically when one is properly initiated into a meditation technique, they have a transcendental experience of their own consciousness. By virtue of this experience, they have become a yogi (i.e. one who is aware he is body and spirit). After years of dedicated practice, this initial awakening to the existence of the spirit becomes a clear understanding that spirit is actually greater in importance than the body.
The goal everyone has for their personal truth whether they know it or not is to ultimately have a personal truth that is correct and not just an illusion. For most, this goal is buried deep in their subconscious as they content themselves with all sorts of convenient illusions. Ultimately for everyone, their truth will be known. All the things that had mattered so much during their lives gives way to personal realizations and reflections on who they really are as the end of life approaches.
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