Don't Let Facts Stand In The Way Of Truth

Don't Let Facts Stand
In The Way Of Truth

Let me paraphrase one of my favorite books by Michael Tamura, You Are The Answer (page 172). Facts are not the truth because you can use facts to support your position, and yet you can still be dishonest. Facts of course are created from the past, while truth is here and now.

I still remember one boss I had in a major agriculture company many years ago. His idea in dealing with people was that if he could convince people of something, than it was true. At least that is what he purported to be the belief in his own mind. At the time, I struggled to believe him, and I still find his statement to be strange.


In another setting while working for a agriculture production company, the manager of the farm I worked on "played" with the numbers to get a certain result which enabled us to all get a considerable sum of money as a bonus. He did not see anything wrong with "cheating" and actually he did not even believe it was cheating. It was not abnormal for him though to preach to all of us each day about his views on the Bible and being a Christian. In the end, another coworker turned him in and the next thing I knew, I was getting called into the main office to explain my actions as if I had been the whistle blower . I had not done anything wrong, but because he was related to the founder of the company, I was told succinctly that I needed to either get over it or turn in my resignation. Can you see the hypocrisy here with truth, beliefs and actions?

While working some contract computer jobs, I had one guy that worked hard and would do anything you asked. Yet, one day he was sick when he reached the work site and needed to go home. His request to me was that I not inform the the contract company and if I approved a full day's worth of pay for him, he would split the money with me equally. I knew he needed the money, but I told him there was no way I could do that. It was wrong and dishonest in every way. Yes, I would have gotten some extra cash in my pocket, but I would have always known in my mind what I did.

In all that I do, I try to be as honest and ethical as I can. It has almost cost me a job a few times. If I would have had to make those decisions over again in how I handled them, I would still do the same thing. In fact, at each of these times, the people involved were so angry, spiteful and inappropriate with me, that it made my job unbearable. I could list many more examples from my own life from churches, religious organizations, new age healers and various other people.

You see, truth is not the facts that we purport it to be. In our world, facts are constantly made up to support our position or belief. It has become common place for truth to be disguised as facts in the name of advancing some position, person or cause.

Take a look at the example of politics today. We are inundated with polls that claim one person is up, while one person is down. Most of this polling data is about as credible as saying the earth is flat. Yet, it doesn't stop the media from reporting it as news, or the political candidates acting as if it shows their current placement in a political race. Furthermore, it doesn't stop people who are so caught up in the news of the day, from believing all that they read. The facts are reported as the truth, but time and time again, the evidence of them not being the truth is brushed aside for the next news story of the day.

Politics is not the only place where facts are presented as truth. All you have to do is look at any following today of religion, the new age movement, weight loss programs or some get rich quick scheme. In order to subscribe to these things, one must take the set of facts on display and accept them to be true. If you doubt the facts presented, they usually brush you aside as not having enough faith or not understanding what it is that they know to be true. Often I like to state "don't let facts stand in the way of truth." After all, who needs the facts, when we as humans turn a blind eye toward them. Why investigate and question all that we are told is true, or to find out if it is really true for our self?

An epidemic has touched every human on this planet and it is saddens me to see just how much we believe the news, accept what our spiritual leader says or succumbs to the societal views of the day without question. We don't stop and think for ourselves, although we claim we do. We don't stop and check out how the truth feels in our mind and body, because we are too busy to be bothered with something so simple and trivial.

If we truly want to discover who we are and the freedom of living in a human body, we need to begin to evaluate the facts that are fed to us each and every day. We need to learn what truth is, not what other people, organizations, religious institutions or new age healers and gurus tell us it is. The more we accept their set of facts as truth, the more we will not discover the truth for our own life. If we are not honest with our self, can we truly be honest with the world?


Book:  You Are The Answer (on Amazon)



Related Blog Posts on Mind Body Thoughts
1)  Following Blind Allegiance (posted Dec 31, 2011)
2)  Truth In Our Body (posted Jan 4, 2012)

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