The Truth, Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth
Accepting the truth of your life and not denying the truth or escaping from the truth is something I learned the hard way, although now I see things much better. I can’t help but think of a quote from (I believe) Fight Club: “We all lie to ourselves to be happy.” I believe it has some truth to it. If we are dissatisfied with a certain part of our lives, sometimes we say, “It’s not that bad,” or “It’s fine. No, it really is. I swear.” But fooling yourself is something that will only lead to more suffering. If you pretend you are having great finances or in great physical health when you do not possess these qualities, it will eventually blow up in your face. I know from experience. You can intend to be at those levels of perfection, but do not pretend you are there. Do not lie to yourself. Denying what you currently have is lowering your awareness. If you view your reality in the most positive way possible and put out the intention for greater things, you will make strides towards where you need to go.
When you do this lying to yourself, you may get into a state of relief, but in the back of your mind, you know what the truth is. And do not pretend to be ignorant of the truth. Some may say ignorance is bliss, but I don’t buy into that. If ignorance was bliss, then we would all deny every fault we have and try to pass ourselves off as some perfect being, one who has it all together. And it would be easy. And it is not. It is not easy pretending to be someone you are not. And the lies catch up with you, eventually. If you kid yourself and say you are not in debt when you are, try saying that to the credit agency that keeps calling your house, looking for the money you owe them. “Sorry, you must be mistaken. I am not in debt.” Come on.
Part of this is acceptance. Accepting the truth and moving on from there. It can be scary facing the truth, which is why so many people live in denial. Some people say things like, “I have this lump on my leg, but I am too afraid to go to the doctor. What if it is cancer?” Well, if it is cancer, don’t you think the doctor would help? But it’s the very fact you need to face this truth, this terrifying truth, that you shy away from reality and lower your awareness. Even if the truth is painful, you will feel grateful for building up the courage to face it. And it will definitely make you a stronger person.
Here is something I notice. Whenever I eat meat with someone, anyone, I bring up the fact these animals are raised in concentration camp-like conditions, fed their own excrement, and killed in the most inhumane way, I get this response: “Oh, come on. I don’t want to hear this while I’m eating. Let me enjoy my meal.” Human beings cannot bear very much reality. I guess it is the easy way out to deny such things. It allows us to live in a state of semi-awareness, but we never really get to the point of really understanding ourselves fully. And we end up lagging far behind in the self-acceptance department. It is only after you completely and fully accept yourself that you can move on to bigger and better things, at least from a spiritual perspective. It does not seem intelligent to ignore certain facets of your life and just let them stay that way, convincing yourself it is “not that bad.” Accept the fact that your life is not perfect and truly accept the truths in all areas and move from there. Once you really know where you stand, there is an accurate foundation for improvement.
Understand that this will not happen overnight. But it is totally worth it, at least so far for me. The closer I am getting to unconditional acceptance, the better off I am. And you do not have to put negative labels on the current state of anything. You can always view things positively. Take the facts, the objective facts, and view them getting better subjectively. Ten thousand dollars in debt becomes “I am working hard to get out of debt and progressing on to financial abundance,” or “I intend to work out of this debt and accumulate money to live the life of my dreams.” As the old proverb says, the truth shall set you free. Good luck.
August 23rd, 2007 at 2:34 am
Sometimes I think I do have alot of money to spend on whatever I want. But when I fully honest with myself that’s when I realize I’m in debt and I sure will to work toward my goal to pay it off. Thanks for the article!