5,000 Years of Truth in 18 Words
Truth, by its very nature, is simple.
Still, humans argue about what the truth is, who has it (usually “us”) and who’s hopelessly in the dark (always “them”). We like to be right, especially when it comes at the cost of “them” being wrong.
Humans—it’s what we do.
This is especially true with spirituality.
On the surface, humanity’s various traditions—Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam in particular—all disagree on a great many things. I’m sure tens of thousands of books have been written on those differences. Probably more.
If you look below the water line, however, you’ll discover a deep agreement between ALL of the wisdom traditions.
There are two truths upon which they are all built—truths which effortlessly distill 5,000 years (or more) of truth into a mere 18 words.
These 18 words1 are:
(1) Peace and happiness are the very nature of our Being.
(2) We share our Being with everyone and everything.
Christianity, the cultural language I was born into, calls this Christ Consciousness. Jesus said, “Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
The Taoists and Buddhists call it non-duality.
The Sufi mystics call it the Self.
Still others simply call it Unity Consciousness.
Yet, they all mean the same thing: Whatever Reality is, we are of it and it is the very Source and essential nature of our Being. We live, move, and have our very existence in, through, and as it.
When you recognize your essential nature (#1 above) that’s the experience we call happiness and peace. The recognition of our shared Being with everyone is what we call Love. Finally, the recognition of our shared being with everything is what we call the experience of Beauty.
The only problem we have is a sense of disconnection from our true nature (#1 above), from which we create a world that reflects that distorted perspective. If we don’t know who we are, we will be confused about who others are as well, and we’ll treat them poorly. If we feel disconnected from everything (nature), the inevitable outcome is to treat it as a commodity.
The good news is, we can set all of the non-essentials aside and focus on these 18 simple words and the Reality to which they point. You don’t have to be religious to do so either, because what is True is always true, regardless of who you are or where you come from. Reality takes no sides.
I encourage you to read and sit with these 18 words sometime this week. See what they have to show you about the world inside of you and the one all around you. These few words, if wrapped in human lives and expressed, will re-create the world in the same way our belief in the opposite has created the world we say we don’t want.
(1) Peace and happiness are the very nature of our Being.
(2) We share our Being with everyone and everything.
I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Rupert Spira for pointing to and articulating this truth so clearly over the years. In addition to Ramana Maharshi and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, his explanation of the perennial non-dual understanding has sparked my own inner revolution and experience of purpose and joy.
We are Love. Every religion and mystic tradition, as well as indigenous culture, all intersect here. Those 18 words are that spiralling double helix that lives in our bones. Love. That source of the universe that touches us as spirit and envelops our own soul. Love. Our journey seems to be remembering that we are love. We are already whole. It ultimately seems to be a journey of subtraction versus addition. Oneness. Home. Love. Beautiful writing.