Hello world,

I’d like to thank Charles for the first contribution, comment and commitment to “loopholes on life”!  While I only began this blog 3 days ago ‘physically’ (Sunday night, 8/19), I’ve been building toward it for the last two and a half years, when I had my first “click” (I’ll explain what exactly I mean by that at some point, for now, think of ‘clicks’ as meaningful milestones for the journey of truth-seekers & ‘game’-changers… or… perhaps more simply put, think of them as true blue epiphanies).

For today’s blog post I’d like to expound on some sage points he alluded to in his post:

I stumbled across this blog. I have been asking a lot of questions lately and looking for answers in places which they would make sense to be found. However, I have found only lies and deceptions that laid the ground work for building societies of followers and none of free thinkers.

A great man once said, “There is not a truth existing which I fear… or would wish unknown to the whole world.” I feel you are liberator of those truths.

I look forward to reading and sharing thoughts on your blog, and to helping make the world a better and more informed place.

Best,
Charles

I smell what you’re stepping in, Charles, and it smells like roses. 

Two things that jumped out in your comment, that I feel is meaningful for the world to be aware of, is the concept of truth — and the related but all-too-often-ignored concept of discernment.

When I had my first “click”, it hit me like an (infinite) ton of bricks.  I began to look at the world very, very differently — and was very, very, hard on myself for being so “naive” regarding how our society and the systems which define it function.  The most amazing thing about the moment of awareness is —- it only sounds good in theory to people who have yet been blind-sided by it.

I’m a good person, at heart, who has also (like most of us) made a series of selfish and seemingly insignificant (as the selfish-me justifies) decisions throughout my life. Yet – when I had this “epiphany”, most would assume one would immediately change for the better.  I went through a period of complete doubt, anger, helpless frustration, countless hours of ‘research’ (which in and of itself was a self-fulling prophecy – seek and ye shall find).   This is the preamble to my, hopefully somewhat relevant, expansion of your post!

What is True Truth?

When I had the aforementioned epiphany, I didn’t think it was a good thing until months and months later when I finally learned how to evaluate the past without being chained by it. The sudden awakening to ‘true truth’ made me OVERCOMPENSATE for truths I emotionally ‘felt tied to’ (whether legit, or whether sculpted for years through exposure to the right people at the right time throughout my childhood & into adulthood).

I literally researched for hours and hours on end. I actually had wore myself out physically, emotionally and spiritually to the point I developed a fever and was basically lying in bed or on the couch for a week straight (never stopping my research during that point – but having crazier dreams, and dread, in the process).  I literally sought the ‘evil’ and ‘conspiracy’ I thought I had come to realize, as if my awareness to intent of organized ‘ill-will’ was best served by seeking it out and further validating it.

The cool thing about life, that we tend not to appreciate enough, is how the mind-body-AND-soul all work together.  The checks and balances that a government may parade could never come close to rival the true symbiotic relationship that our minds-bodies-souls have.  We all have a perfect “3 points” with the mind-body-soul which self-regulate, and look out for one another — while we tend to think they are at ends.  My body was getting exhausted because my mind was exhausted because my soul was exhausted.  And vice ver-sa.

How does this relate to “truth” and “discernment”?  As individuals seek truth, they need to start within — AND understand the connectivity of mind-body-spirit, as a means to expedite and sanity check their progress.  Until we understand ourselves, we cannot come to understand greater purpose, our purpose in our contribution to a greater purpose, our piece in the greater puzzle.

The reason Charles’ post is SO IMPORTANT for others who are seeking something they do not have the words to convey, is that “in truth” we have been manipulated to believe in a screwed version of “truth”…. Now – there is ‘a lot of truth’ in how we have come to define the term — and that portion of truth comes from the fact that we rely on others.  We rely on others, based on their credibility (which immediately becomes subjective), to tell us what truths we should aware of — and why they should not be questioned.

AND THE TRUTH IS…..

Almost EVERYTHING WE KNOW is “a cup of lies with a pinch of truth” or, at best, “a cup of truth with a pinch of lies”.  The avoidable experience I encountered on my awareness to this concept is, being at peace with that concept enables us to better discern truth.

In terms of an afterlife, I had “faith”, but I had doubts.  In terms of during-life, I had “suspicions” but I had trust.   In terms of my second click which helped me overcome the negative aspects of my first click, I had this “TRUTH to anchor myself to”:

“OPEN MIND; STEADFAST HEART”

The truth is, most truths were founded, at some level, in a very subjective way. Many formulas in physics have been built upon long-forgotten theories or random variables we decided to define as a constant.  When you build a formula off of an assumption, then build formulas off of that formula, it is a critical game of telephone that makes its way into our textbooks in grade school; then we’re tested on it, so we study it, then we answer the questions, so we feel accountable for that knowledge, so we defend & reinforce it; and further mislead future generations from the original assumption made!  At some point, if we slowed down and reflected on it, most debates are not about “debating truth” they are about debating the emotional feeling we put into the importance of that truth being a part of OUR worldview…..

I had one of three options when that fever set in.   (1) let it burn me out, literally….(2) try to forget what i had thought I had learned, knowing it’s hard to “un-see” certain things…. (3) IDENTIFY A LOOPHOLE IN LIFE TO HELP ME THINK ABOUT TRUTH DIFFERENTLY 🙂

There was nothing more important to my ‘rebound’ than simplifying my search for truth — it allowed me to understand many other “complicated” truths down stream.  OPEN MIND, STEADFAST HEART….  It’s NOT an easy balance, but if one can find that balance, they can ‘learn more “truths” or, even more likely, “unlearn historical truths”, all while avoiding “pendulum swinging”.

…and the Pendulum Swings…

Many of us will “fight for what we believe in” up into, well, we stop believing in it.  ANTICIPATE THAT MOMENT!!!  It was my mistake, that I fortunately was able to bounce back from.  When we finally consciously or subconciously “accept” that a truth we once learned was wrong, incorrect, or incomplete —- it is our instinct to GO THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION.  That’s what I did.  Instead of pursuing truth, I in all reality started pursuing lies — or at least equally untrue concepts.  As many great leaders of humanity have reinforced, BALANCE, is more important (and more in general) than we think.  Balance isn’t just about moderation/etc. — it’s about understanding ourselves and not staying too far on one side or going too far for the other —- yet, its not about staying complacent in the middle either… tricky, I know…  The important part is simply to know our tendencies — and  everything else will work out more effectively with almost no additional effort.  Know thyself and you can manage your weaknesses by capitalizing on your strengths.  Do not try to change or unchange too much —- the worst part of ourselves is almost always more closely related to the things that make ourselves great than we think.  Understanding, as the G.I. Joe’s sagely yet incompletely pointed out, is more than half the battle in my opinion.  In fact, understanding IS the battle.

Discernment as the Weapon in the Battle for Truth

We need to pick our battles; and when we do, the right weapons for them.  In the battle for truth, practice discernment.  Keep it simple.  Pick tools that you feel, as always, are “timeless”, self-evident, axioms, loopholes in life.  No one will ever be able to tell me that it doesn’t make sense to have an OPEN MIND and STEAD-FAST HEART, because it rings in my soul in a way that cannot be contended unless from within my soul itself.   By having an open mind, I can keep a stead-fast heart — by having a stead-fast heart, I can keep an open mind.

The problem with the climatic point our society is diverging and converging into is —- the battle between OPEN MINDS AND STEAD FAST HEARTS!!  Each group would describe themselves differently.  Traditional religion is at ends with new age worldviews — without even knowing it, it’s as if the world is trying to make us “pick a side” — why????  We need to elevate our level of thinking beyond the taxonomy of various relgions and sects — YET — we will lose our way if we do not “practice and share our faith” together.  We need to be free – yet we need to understand the importance of relying on each-other.  Again a tricky concept, but again one of the few “truths” we can hang our hat on across all human leaders, history & time — BALANCE is the key.

While the concept of “open mind; stead-fast heart” helps keep me balanced; a different phrase or concept may serve another individual better, as they look to reinforce the foundation which they hope to build their “house of truth” upon.  I highly recommend everyone find their weapon of discernment in preparation for their battle of truth!

Thanks again for the post which inspired this one, Charles, and I hope this becomes a growing community which you continue to contribute to — and even if not, I hope you continue setting the stage and the example for others, and for me, online and off!!