The Belt of Truth

What makes the world, the world governed by the activities of man. “In the beginning” everything existed. Man changed the face of the earth. Man was different, man had intelligence, a unique brain that stored and manipulated information. Man devised from what existed; he did not create but used creation for his benefit and became a co creator; he revolutionized the face of the earth, and his manipulations had wonderful impacts but also produced evil.

What is the root of man’s activity, the central cause of his successes; certainly, the cognitive ability is a mechanism for achievement. But what is the essence of all the good things man has accomplished?

The essence of all good is “Truth,” “I am the way and the truth.”

There is always, among men, a freedom of choice, free will. Man can depart from the “Truth,” isolate himself from God. Such men are self centered; they seek all at the expense of their neighbors. They are ruthless and the evil that they perpetrate is stunning. These men are violent; violence is their creed.

They are the antithesis of truth; Christ called the personification of evil, “The father of all lies.”

Paul said, “Without charity, you are a gong in the wilderness.” Christ said, “The essence of religion is to love God and love your neighbor as yourself.” Christ also said, “There will come a day when you will worship in Spirit and Truth.”

Christ is not interested in the tithe, a part of yourself, Christ is interested in your whole being, “Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” He gave us the parable of “The widow’s penny and the rich man’s millions. Who gave more? The widow that gave all.”

“Each man is a player that plays many parts.” In the course of our lives, we go from responsibility to responsibility; if we are faithful stewards, we progress and all that we are, all that we do, no mater our status or talents, we are called to serve God and our neighbor. We must do the duty before us to the utmost of our ability, in truth and benevolence. In Christ, there is no insignificant person, no insignificant duty. “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.” In Christ, there is no hierarchy of service or stature, no man is better than any other man. “A leader must be the servant of all,” Christ washed the feet of his disciples.

“My ways are not your ways.”

We love God by walking in the ways of God; seeking God who is “Truth.” Marcus says, “Seek what is best in the universe;” the best is the creator, the universal intelligence. Truth can be defined as the most effective way of living, the most effective way of accomplishing a goal: scientific truth, emotional truth.

We fight evil, creat the Kingdom of God, the happiness we seek, by “Putting on the belt of truth.” When we adhere to truth we love God, because God is Truth.

Truth is the essence of all that has always existed and those good things that the activities of man have caused to be, the useful benevolent things that serve all.

“I have come to bring you life. I have come to set you free. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened. Blessed is he that hears the word and keeps it. There will be false prophets that will even lead the elect away.”

Christ is described, by John as the “Word.”

Some say, I do not know God, but Christ said, to Peter, “You have been with me and still do not know me.” “The hills are alive with the sound of music.” “Even the rocks call out.” God is the essence of our soul. The rich man said, in the story of Lazarus, “let me go and warn my brother!” “You had the prophets and the law, and it was not enough.” And it could be said, didn’t you have Socrates, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Tolstoy, William James, Merton, Solzhenitsyn, Thomas Wolfe, or many others. Being sons of God is our birthright; some men reject it. They reject God for a bowl of oatmeal, trinkets, fleeting power and glory, the things of the world that pass away.

The game changer for man, the beginning of The Enlightenment, was the printing press. The dissemination of information, “The answers (Truth) blowing in the wind.”

The most important aspect, the foundation of everything rests on freedom, “Free Speech.”

Evil men always try to control information, they propagate lies; they serve the “Father of lies.” Secular rulers control speech, propagandize lies. The most egregious lies are religious lies “False Prophets that lead the elect astray.”

“You will know them by their fruits. If they lie in small ways, they lie in all things.”

Philosophy, according to the ancients, is the discovery of truth with the use of reason, that gift that mirrors the Creator, The Intelligence of the universe. The strict practice of reason led some to reason that God was the foundation of the good life. Every life needs a rock, a foundation to weather the vicissitudes of life. That is what “The Good News” is supposed to do. The Word, the philosophy of Christ is the same expounded by Socrates, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Confucius who was constrained, by a law, against Religion. Christ said, “I have come to give you abundant life, everlasting water.”

Life encompasses everything, all creation. We are part of creation and each of us has a part to play, and every part is important to the whole. We should be involved in everything that providence designates as our vocation. We are all a part of “Invisible Hand, the marketplace, that direct the course of events.

I finally finished Milton, in The Harvard Classics. Milton is a demonstration of our inferior education system. In Sophomore, high school, English Literature, he is a footnote. He is mentioned, a few stanzas written, we know he wrote “Paradise Lost.” He also wrote a treatise on education, a mountain of poetry, Paradise lost, Paradise Found and a story of Samson, hundreds of pages. He is so difficult because he reverences Greek Mythology and the Classic Philosophers, and to understand him you must divert attention to Wikipedia and read 100’s of extra pages about things that are no longer taught or thought to be important. After that you are left with a vague understanding, a change of perspective which is all important to personal development.

I have moved on to Ralph Waldo Emerson. We learn, by wrote, that he is an outstanding American essayist. We are never given any of his writings which are extensive.

He was friends with Henry David Thoreau; Walden Pond was on Emerson’s property. I read “WaldenPond” recently. I built my own house, knew every expense, and have dedicated my life to frugality. Thoreau and I have much in common. He died of Tuberculosis in his 40’s; many people of that time died of Tuberculosis.

It is surprising, reading Emerson, that he was woefully aware that most men (and now, women), in the 1840’s, were corrupted by an insatiable appetite for the dollar. The dollar is their God. Some people, billionaires, crave it as a means to power, easily corrupting all by doling it out for submissiveness; you know, selling your soul.

People sell their souls for such a pittance, like Esau.

It is what Emerson’s “Self reliance” is about.

It is probably what the Harvard Classics are about, men, of great deeds and thought that followed their muse, their inner force, their individuality in the understanding of truth, at great expense, overcoming every obstacle because of an abiding individual faith in themselves. Going against the crowd, throwing off false doctrine, avoiding the temptations of wealth and ease and vain glory to pursue something that makes them an anathema to their fellowship with men and shallow institutions.

It is such men that harbor truth in their breasts. Such men should be read, such men are the foundation of education, the foundation of everything in creation, Truth.

“I am the way and the truth; no one can come to the father except through me.”

Christ called himself “The Son of Man.” No one disputes that he had a mother, an Immaculate Birth, but they discount the fact that he can not be the Son of Man without Joseph as father; that Christ, God, was born as man, Immanuel, the natural way that all men are born. He also said, “I am the first of many brothers.” Which means our birthright is to be as Christ, the son of God. We don’t need a virgin birth.

And what is the essence of the great transformation? “My food is to do the will of the Father.”

Obedience,

Through disobedience we lost communion with God, through obedience we gain it back.

Emerson outlines the process, the renouncing of the great pleasures of the world that cause men to deviate from their inmost desire, the rejection of ease and comfort and vain glory. The process of the desert of life, the winnowing of dross and the acceptance of the essence of all things…God.

Anything that keeps us from the quest for Truth, the quest for God, we must put behind us. That is why Christ said to Peter, that faithful, courageous, impetuous, follower who, in ignorance, hindered “the way and the truth;” “Get behind me Satan.” Let nothin get between yourself and the love of God.