“The truth about truth.”

A friend of mine forwarded a nice quote this morning made by James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Last of the Mohicans:

“the truth of nature … is a primitive law of the human mind.”

I wanted to take some time to talk about the nature of truth, which I think he nailed, and is not really what we typically think of when we consider truth.

For most of us, truth is an ideal, a moral, or some other positive way of living life.  However, while this is correct, it isn’t true.  Since, in truth, truth is a reflection of life itself.

Restated, Truth is a reflection of the real nature of the world.

So in fact, truth is a noun, and reflects a tangible reality.  It can be discerned in nature, and within ourselves, if we are open to receiving it.

On an aside, anything which isn’t truth, is fiction.

Truth is important, not because of the emotional and societal values, which while important, aren’t the true reason of their importance.
We can know this because truth, like life, is in its nature is simple, and both of these values are complex.

Rather, truth is important because it aligns us with the world – with nature if you will – and in doing so connects us to our essential form, our true form, which further serves to settle our mind and bring us closer to what we call the divine.

It calls to mind my friend, who tells the truth, but it stems from fear of getting caught.  While this perhaps is a good outcome, the fact that it stems from fear, means that this action isn’t truly true.  It is in fact false.

The true action would be to do the right thing, because it is the right thing to do.  The fear aspect impacts his action, and moves it from truth to falsehood.

Having finished this post, I will admit that it could all be false, but in my gut, I think it is true.

 

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