The Truth
The adhesive that binds us together in what we call civilization is the shared adoption of a certain set of beliefs. Beliefs around the type of government, rule of law, religion, education, and so on. When enough people buy into a set of beliefs, civilization forms.
Newly discovered Truths that challenge the existing beliefs erode the cohesion of civilization. For example, Copernicus said the sun is the center of our solar system, not earth. It challenged the Roman Catholic Church's geocentric belief that they were the center of it all.
This new Truth disrupted social cohesion among believers of the geocentric system. Civilization, once deep enough in its own beliefs, hates the Truth. It reacts to the Truth like a foreign invader. It rejects it and wants to fight it like a carcinoma.
But slowly, the Truth prevails and replaces the old false beliefs. But, before that happens, the providers of Truth are punished by the system that seeks to maintain itself because it doesn't want its position challenged, which is built on the illusion of Truth. It took the Roman Catholic Church over 300 years to recognize that Copernicus was right.
This points out the conflicting nature of Truth and civilization. Civilization maintains itself with the adoption of beliefs held firmly as if it is a universal truth. Yet those beliefs squelch the real Truth since the Truth can kick a leg out from the barstool of civilization.
In other words, civilization is held together by the collective adoption of beliefs that are considered the fundamental Truth, when in fact it is the illusion of knowing the Truth. This is why groups of believers are always at odds, often ending in conflict.
Both think they know the Truth when neither of them does. Bloods and Crips, Democrats and Republicans, Atheists and the Religious...they each believe they are the holders of the Truth. In reality, they are the holders of untruth.
This is the nature of reality. This is the reality of civilization. This is the reality of most interpersonal conflicts.
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Now, imagine this...
Imagine a world where we all formed one civilized group based on the understanding that none of us know what is fundamentally True. Because that is the only Truth. We don't know for sure and never will. A civilization that collectively understands this is a conscious civilization.
So, when I think about what a change in universal consciousness means, it doesn't mean that everything is rainbows and unicorns and everyone will be happy and cheerful like Ron and Veronica in Pleasure Town. That's idealistic nonsense. Yet some of the false-awakened promote it.
A shift in universal consciousness doesn't mean all "bad" goes away. It simply means we become aligned on the understanding that none of us know the Truth for sure because the pure and simple Truth is never pure and rarely simple. And we act accordingly.
What some of us despise about the broad-stroke irrational conversations that play out in public arenas, like politics, is that it's taken the form of actively and intentionally ignoring what is True by shunning nuance.
None of the topics we like to paint with simplistic statements are as black and white as we make them out to be. Gun control, abortion, taxes, etc. Neither side is "right" because neither side appears willing to accept what is True -- that there is no "perfect" answer.
NONE OF US KNOW THE TRUTH. AND THAT IS THE ONLY THING THAT IS TRUE. Everything else is, most often, selfish speculation.
Protecting Founder's Equity by Unlocking Revenue-Growth for Startups | Mitigating Investor Risk through Strategic Portfolio Support | Helped 300+ Founders Build Startups | 3 x Founder | Advisor | Board Member
2 年Love your mindset Andy!
Andy, gracias por compartir!
Helping companies see clearly and understand fully
2 年This is helpful Andy - nuance is so important and if there is a truth to be found, nuance is usually where it exists. I believe people have a yearning for truth and to know the truth but social media and sound byte journalism have no time for nuance so opinion and prejudice has to masquerade as truth and people, hungry for truth, consume it greedily
Executive coach for scaling startup founders
2 年This speaks to why identity can be so dangerous. Just as civilization forms itself based off specific beliefs, so do our self-concepts. When we encounter ideas that conflict with that self-concept, our instinct is to deem those ideas wrong, leaving no room for nuance. The more we can loosen our grips on identity, the more we can tolerate complexity.