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The light of truth

I was sulking in the corners of the monastery. I had avoided chores that required talking to other disciples or monks. Everything upset me. Noticing my foul mood, the Old Man, as we affectionately called the oldest monk of the Order, invited me for a walk in the garden. While he was trying to engage me in conversation, my monosyllabic responses displayed my annoyance. At a certain point, the Old Man said: “The more a spirit is lightened, the better is his behavior. The Higher Spheres, regardless of how you imagine them, are layered with joy. Contrary to what many intellectuals believe, it is not wise to be taken by irritation or impatience. Truth is liberating, and therefore the source of endless joy and peace”. At this moment, I stopped walking, looked at the monk and told him this was the reason I was so disheartened about humankind, because what was true for one person would not necessarily be the truth for another. Therefore, I did not foresee a happy ending for the world. The Old Man took his time to sit on a wooden bench, as spoke in his soft voice: “Truth is apparently unstable, as the awareness of people is constantly evolving, and in different levels of evolution”. I interrupted him claiming that in there lies the reason for eternal conflicts. “No”, rebuked the monk. “It is exactly in there that the Cosmic Intelligence lies. By forcing the relationship among people in different stages of evolution, it allows some to teach others. It makes us masters and apprentices in ceaseless lessons. We have the chance to experience the beauty of sharing love and wisdom through our relationships. As our understanding expands, people, each one at their own time, begin to realize the importance of non-material goods over material wealth; the appreciation of the most sublime feelings rather than the more sensory emotions. Little by little, love displays its greatness in the face of hatred; forgiveness liberates us from sorrow. Only in the beauty of individual transformation will it be able to modify and align the planet”.

I told him of my distress seeing the world engaged in so much iniquity and senseless fights due to pride and vanity. Then, I listed many afflicting situations of our time. The monk listened to my complaints with extreme patience, until talking tired me out. Then he said: “The world is exactly as it should, as it always reflects the precise measure of intellectual, emotional and spiritual evolution of its people. Elephants do not fly”.

Dumbo, the character of Disney’s movie came to mind, and of course I could not let that slip. The Old Man did not play hard to get, and laughed a lot. Then he said: “It is true. But have you noticed that that little elephant was a wealth of good feelings, perhaps much higher than one would find in his kind. For the sake of argument, one could believe that his high grade of evolution made the difference among those of his kind, as his ears were turned into wings. I think the same happens with us; the perception of truth hones our feelings and allows us to fly higher and higher”.

I insisted that I still could not identify which was the ultimate, liberating truth. The Old Man arched his lips as if about to smile, and said: “Have you noticed that what you have believed was true in the past may no longer be so, now? Do you know why? For the simple fact that you are not the same as before. The truth expands in tandem with our evolution. As truths are decoded by the conscious mind, sent and placed definitively on the shelves of feelings for internal, external and eternal use, transformations occur within your being, as knowledge is incorporated into the feeling. Heart and mind tuned with the same fork, as musicians in a well-tuned orchestra.”

“Final truth lies in experiencing love with no limits. This is liberating, and yet difficult to be understood and accepted at this point of our evolution. We have realized, but it is still hard to experience unconditionally the most valuable energy that exists in the world. The wisdom to understand that the great battle is fought within us makes the ceaseless exercise of shedding light on our own shadows a decisive step in the search for truth. We all know love and know how important it is as source of light; however, we have yet to experience it in all its intensity. Unfortunately we still waste its power. This is a pity, as love is the essential component for miracles, which are but hidden transformations within us”. He paused briefly, smiled with his eyes, and added: “The more the love, the more the power. This is the truth in all its comprehensiveness and simplicity”.

Kindly translated by Carlos André Oighenstein.

 

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