Knowing the truth has been something I’ve wrestled with most of my life - or at times, put my head in the sand when it was too uncomfortable for me to look at.
In one of my current favorite books, Emptiness Dancing by Adyashanti he says….
“The truth is what is most interesting to me. It is the only thing that is interesting. It is always fresh. Everything else is an outrageous bore.”
The Truth is Always Fresh.
In my personal embodiment & somatic practices, and with my clients, this is quite essentially the quality I look for, and use as a fundamental guiding principle.
Truth isn’t based on consensus, precedent, only tangible facts, limited scientific peer-reviewed studies…
The Truth is Always Fresh.
And by the nature of this, it will quite regularly ruffle feathers, rock the boat, make you and/or others uncomfortable, be confronting, and cause you/others to (hopefully!) think & perceive things anew. Fresh.
'Knowing' the truth has plagued me since I was a girl.
What is actually true? What can actually be relied on and trusted?
Humans... we’re all infallible.
What we create, perceive, believe, think, study… it’s all at risk of becoming stale sooner or later.
The Truths that outlive millennia and cross cultures - well, those are precious, and to be delicately, meticulously studied and sat with.
Generally speaking though, the truth in one moment, in one context, with one person, may be completely the opposite in another moment, context or person.
We cannot even say with science that something is unquestionably true - this is in fact quite unscientific - science is a constant, ever-unfolding inquiry that happens over time, as new information presents.
Science is fascinating because there can be evident truth that is backed by well-executed studies, and even then there are exceptions.
I admire the people who study the exceptions, and not just disregard them as faulty or flawed.
So how do we know what is True?
Well, first we must change our relationship to how we perceive Truth.
This is what I’ve had to do, and it has certainly been a process.
Many of us go around living our lives thinking once we KNOW what is TRUE we can rest in it. We feel like we’ve landed on stable, solid, reliable ground.
And that feels good.
We are absolutely allowed and should be welcomed to rest when we land in a Truth.
However, the danger comes when we become unwilling to simultaneously stay OPEN to more.
Being with Truth is a Dance.
It is not static.
It is not rigid.
It is not finite.
It is not rejection or denial.
Truth takes bravery, listening, openness, humility, a willingness to be with life in an ever-fresh way.
The ONLY thing I have been able to ‘land’ on when it comes to Truth, is how it FEELS.
Not facts presented (though this helps)
Not stories believed (this almost never helps)
Not precedent, history, a large population saying something is so…
Truth is FELT.
Truth brings a sense of clarity, freshness, awakening, liberation…
Even if there is at first a discomfort with the truth.
The issue here is so many people conflate the feeling of discomfort with ‘wrong’ or ‘untrue’.
Or, “I don’t want to look at that because it means I might have to change my mind and I feel too comfortable and safe believing what I believe right now.”
Attachment to Comfort can quickly drop us into a rut of complacency, staleness and lack of openness to Truth.
Even as yoga teachers & practitioners, in Patanjali’s Yamas & Niyamas we’re taught “Kindness” then “Truth”… however in the tradition I follow, Nondual Tantrik Yoga/Kashmir Savism, it is “Truth” first, then “Kindness” - because, if we must choose one, it must be Truth guiding first. Satya.
(This is NOT to say that we shouldn’t do our best to ‘marry’ Truth & Kindness as best as possible. Of course we should do our best to practice both to the best of our abilities.)
I know this isn’t for everyone, and that is OK :) Some people may value many other things before Truth.
For me, Truth is paramount in how I choose to live my life.
Because, non-truth is what seems to be at the center of our unnecessary suffering as humans. And it is again why I landed on Embodiment (or, it landed in me.)
Your body will always signal to you what feel True, and what feels Off.
It is an ever-deepening, ever-freshening dance with yourself… with life.
We get to pull apart the stories that we believe that keep us stagnant and stale.
We get to release beliefs that have been unconsciously held onto that disempower us and keep us small.
We get to learn how to ride the waves when they’re made, with more grace and ease.
We learn how to navigate the temporary-perhaps-inconvenient-though-refreshing-truth… in favor to complacency and furthering the stale rut of day-in-day-out doldrums.
This is the path of Embodied Living.
It is about Truthful Living.
Satya.
Truth. Essence.
This is the ever-deepening embodied, energetic intention I hold for myself and for all of those I work with.
It matters.
And so does what is True for you. Deep Down.
Xo
If you're feeling the call to explore what is deeply true for you, let's chat.
Image Credit: Philipp Pilz on Unsplash