subtle fragrance

Truth is a subtle fragrance

We tend to think of truth in terms of words: Truth is something that can be conveyed by words, perhaps by a reliable newspaper, or a peer-reviewed scientific journal. We think of truth as the opposite of when somebody is telling a lie. These are some of our normal conceptions of truth. But this is not the truth of which I speak. This is not the sort of truth that we are concerned with on our spiritual journey. These everyday truths are relative. There's no absolute truth to be found in them. No.

There is a completely different meaning to the word truth, and it is: what is – that which is in this moment, and only in this moment, as perceived directly, without thought, without concept. This what is has an absolute quality. It can only be absolute because we are not in the realm of thoughts. We are not labelling things. We are not using words at all. In direct perception, there is no judgment, there is no value, there's no exploitation or manipulation, there's no story line, no narrative being pushed. There's no spin. And that's why truth can only be found in the moment, for oneself, directly. Everything else, everything that is being processed by the thinking mind, has an element of spin.

Each of us is a spin doctor when we are thinking. We are creating our own storyline. We are reinforcing our prejudices, our deeply held beliefs. We are plunging in ever deeper to our own favourite echo chambers. Of course in these ways, we're never going to find truth. Truth does not come in these black and white words, either on the printed page, or in our thinking mind. No. Truth is a subtle fragrance, and we only smell it when our mind becomes silent. We can only taste truth when we are still, within ourself. Here in this place we sense the subtle fragrance of truth.