I must first say to all New Age followers that I understand the attraction of this way. To become more spiritual in the hope of advancing yourself, attaining higher consciousness, and promoting peace and love are all commendable aspects of the New Age religion. I used to be a New Ager so I speak from experience. The higher awareness that we all seek is desirable because it will reveal the Truth about the way things are. To journey within to find the truth, or to say the truth is within you, implies that you do not create your own truth. If you create your own truth why do you have to look anywhere for it? Basically I moved on from the New Age when I realised that there is in fact an Ultimate Truth that does not depend on individual human opinion or experience. I can demonstrate this with the following situation - Andy believes he evolved from monkeys and that God is non-existent, while Bob believes he was created as a seperate species by God. Now if we all create our own truth both Andy and Bob are correct. Do you think that because Andy believes he evolved from monkeys he did actually evolve from monkeys, and that because Bob believes he was created by God that he actually was created by God? Or do you think that they both exist due to the same truth, whether it be creation or evolution (or something entirely different)? Andy's beliefs will seem true to him, and Bob's beliefs will seem true to him, but just because a belief seems true to you does not mean it is actually True. Hopefully you will agree that actual human origin is independent from mere human opinion/belief about our origins. This agreement is your first step towards the path of Ultimate Truth, the only path along which there are real gains for you effort. A higher awareness will not set you free or enlighten you, only the Ultimate Truth can set you free. Ask yourself - "Do I really create my own truth, or does an Ultimate Truth exist that is True regardless of whether I believe it or not?". Thanks for your time. Friendly discussion is welcomed. Much love for all. Much love for the Truth.
i'm not a 'new-ager', but i'd like to post anyway. i do not think that, because a person conceives of a god, purple elephant, miniature leprechaun, that it exists in a fundamental "real" manner. humans are prone to much ignorance, and we must question ourselves enormously. when it comes down to it, there really is nothing that i can say is ultimately true - not the chair beneath me or the air i breathe: everything comes to me through my senses first, and my senses are unreliable. it seems obvious that belief in something so dubious as an invisible god is even more unreliable! so, what can i know? ...there is something that is "me", existing and aware. peace,
If nothing you can say is ultimately true then what you just said is not true either. I guess there are two questions: Does ultimate truth exist? And, Can we know it? I answer Yes to both questions. Life is nothing if the answers are No.
ah, no ... i said nothing i cay say is ultimately true, except that some "me" exists. does ultimate truth exist? i think it does, necessarily. can we know it? i don't know, i really don't. perhaps we can know later. in any case, we can try, and perhaps get closer to it. is that a reason to live? (perhaps that's faith.) what a beautifully simple thread subject. peace,
Yeah I think that until you have become absolutely convinced that you have found the Ultimate Truth you should not stop trying. I spent over a year doing nothing but searching and yearning for the Truth. The funny thing is once you are certain you have found it there is no way to prove to other people that it is ultimate truth. I guess that is the paradox; ultimate truth is true for you if you find it, but I guess it is true for you even if you don't find it.
I do not play games with hypotheticals. I do think there is truth and I think we often miss the mark when we aim for it. I also think the truth is a hell of a lot bigger than Texas and we can all be standing on the corners of it and not see each other at all. Personally if anyone is convinced they have found "Utilmate Truth" I am going to be skeptical of them, wary around them and hope they eventually come to their senses. Such an attitude is beyond arragance. It is hubris, plain and simple, and it is dangerous as history proves time and time again.
My experience is that when you think you've now found ultimate truth - you've now 'got it' - that's when your troubles get really bad! Life is a journey - we are constantly journeying - we're not allowed to stop anywhere, or say 'I've arrived, I'm there' - however 'ultimate' a truth or experience may seem, there is always more...
Even when you figure out the truth, you can implement changes in your life, but changing the rest of the world won't be easy. True Enlightenment is when you detach yourself from the flow of time and humanity, when you make changes to your life that are at variance with the script that time seems to have imposed upon the masses. The point of your journey is to develop yourself on the spiritual level so that when the lower-dimension physical body fails, your higher-dimension spiritual body persists as an immortal energy construct.
