Verity is the quality or state of being true or real.
As Joan Suval often implied, what people say is true, it is their perceived truth.
What I seek is the eternal state of being true, devoid of personal opinion, prejudice or bias. It appears when we look inward consistently, sometimes over a long period of time.
In psychology, curiosity falls under the virtue category of wisdom. It is associated with openness to new solutions, a reduced fear of the unknown, and overall life satisfaction.Types of Curiosity: Psychologists often break it down further. Epistemic curiosity is the formal, conscious desire to acquire new knowledge (like studying a new subject), while perceptual curiosity is the sensory-driven drive to explore the world around you.
Integrity is the quality of possessing strong moral principles and consistently acting with honesty, regardless of whether anyone is watching. Rooted in the Latin word integer (meaning whole), it represents the alignment between your internal values and your outward actions, as well as the completeness of your character. Derived from its root word, integrity also describes a state of being complete and undivided. For example, it can refer to the structural soundness of physical objects (e.g., a bridge) or the intactness of cultural heritage sites.
Problem solving, such as writing essays or correcting a map, isn’t supposed to be easy, and of course it can be tedious. It isn’t just the production of solutions – it’s the training of endurance by way of sustained attention.
It’s a way of learning what one thinks by attempting to say it. An AI or LLM can reproduce the appearance of that activity, but it can’t replace it, because the value lies not only in the object produced but in the transformation that occurs in us during its making.
Sometimes all it takes is a word, a sound, something seen. And a different world opens up. Or the real world that has opened before is once again visited, viscerally.
I was watching an old PBS interview by Bill Moyers, Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth, when Mr. Campbell spoke the word. Something like, "... and we are Becoming." Suddenly I was floating, second by second, on a cloud-like wave.
It was another way into the space created by reading the words of Ramana Maharishi, " ... it flashed through me vividly as living truth which I perceived directly, almost without thought process."
If you haven't heard of either man I suggest looking at this amazing discussion by two dedicated minds. I've read many of Joseph Campbell's books and listened to many interviews by Bill Moyers. I met Mr. Moyers when he came to one of my Yoga classes and gushed shamelessly. A big fan, I'm sure I said.
Cultivating this space, this sense of becoming, is the fruit of Self-Enquiry, of seeing the unseen and realizing who we really are.
Many things are not easy. Realizing the role self-will plays in continued suffering is high among them. Everything, it seems, is stacked against this insight. From an early age the pressure to be self actuated is intense and unrelenting. I'm not arguing against it. In some of us, perhaps almost all of us, the reliance on ego experiences alone outstrips the benefits.
In other posts I have opened up the positive effects of ego-deflation, surrender, and Self-Enquiry as antidote to the sufferings caused by self-will. Here I attempt to sort out the lingering and recurring effects on those who choose to reverse this trend, especially in relationships. Specifically, the problems associated with unblinking reliance on Forgiveness to cure our emotional and spiritual woes.
Forgiveness is considered to be a powerful tool for reclaiming power, attaining emotional freedom and improving health. Unless there is ego-deflation these methods inevitably lead to protecting self-image, restoring a sense of control and regaining a sense of superiority. In fact, it bolsters up the ego that helped cause the problems in the first place.
So what to do? Over many years I have found that genuine compassion, a spiritual practice as opposed to psycho-therapeutic, is selfless, empathetic and leads to freedom. It is certainly a more difficult undertaking and one which requires vigilance to not resume the inflated ego but rather focuses on the wrongs we have done others.
Referred to as the practice of being hard on ourselves and easy on others, it has not gained a lot of adherents over the years. By its' very practice it minimizes the reliance on self as elevated in relationships and inserts us as co-creaters in misery. Asking what I have done to fuel the unease in relationships requires a different approach, a leveling of the power dynamics usually perceived in uncomfortable relations. It pulls the rug out from under being a victim. Others no long are perceived as having more power.
Personally, I have experienced qualified relief by focusing on forgiveness but have been relieved of all burdens by admitting my role and not expecting anything in return.
The resulting freedom is directly experienced as a miracle. Years of resentment disappear without a trace.
Forgiveness is a state of mind such that the forgiver makes an effort, through prayer or other means, to absolve the other for perceived wrongs.
Compassion is a state of being in which the separation between forgiver and other has attenuated as a result of seeing the actions of each as contributing to perceived wrongs.
"It is like if I feel the human world and the divine world separated. How to unify them?"
If you want Unity alone
Why do you accept
The existence of
Anything else
This is the question. A seed question to be meditated on. It focuses the mind's attention on the area of unification in us. I have found that the root of deep nonacceptance of Unity is the over activity of mind which continually creates this and that.
When the mind is stilled, Unity then is seen through Grace.
It is a question to challenge the mind
Why do I accept the illusions
Why accept the fear
Why accept the depression
When the Self is in me
There are these times on the spiritual journey when we seem alone. It is unpleasant. Sometimes terrifying. Living through these times it always appears that doubts arise when mind, and reliance on discursive, rational thinking, was dominant. However, they tend to lead us into the dense and dark pathways far from the Light. The human world, as you put it, is of the mind and thought. It changes often. Impermanent.
Finding the essence of who we are is the key to seeing Unity. It comes first followed by thoughts of the world. Staying with inner realization of Self, Unity, is the proper order in life. Unity illuminates the world of this and that.
Mostly we are taught the inverse. This inversion creates the crisis.
Be well and know Grace is everywhere.
The reply says it all!
It makes me feel really better, peaceful, quiet. I needed your help to cross and get out of the nightmare. I keep your words on my heart to rely on them and meditate on them thank you 🙏