How do we discern truth? Do we slide along at face value, believing whatever is said if it is said with direct eye contact convincingly? Do we give more credence to the printed word, as if being in print implied more truthfulness? Do we think the majority decides what is true? Or do we simply believe the truth to be what we are habitually conditioned to accept as true?

Sliding along at face value has its drawbacks, such as the first time you buy new siding for your house from a fly by night scammer. Or when you find you have elected politicians to office who are corrupt and are acting as though pillage was their divine right.

As for the printed word, Gutenberg’s days are long gone. Printing books now is such an inexpensive and rapid process just about any idea can be found in print. Unthinking reverence for the printed word just paves the road to more confusion.

Of course, most people simply watch the predigested sound bites of the news, which is even more suspect as far as expressing truth.

For those who are afraid of dissenting from the opinions of the common herd, I have one reminder. The world is not flat.

How about those of us who docilely become whatever our parents were before us or in direct rebellion choose the exact opposite? Republicans, Democrats, Catholics, Protestants, blue collar, white collar, pro-life, pro-choice etc. Is there any truth in choosing any of these disparate belief patterns? See the hot buttons going off now…

Do outraged emotional reactions determine the truth of something? If so, why aren’t both sides right during religious wars? What is all the uproar about anyway?

Perhaps the logical mind is better to trust. Of course the logical mind led us to science, which led us to Newtonian physics, which was quite reassuring, at least after the main religious fallout quieted. Then the physicists have been confounded by moving into quantum physics, which now contradicts all our commonsense ideas of how the world works.

The main problem with all these approaches to deciding truth is that they are all based on external reference points. In one way or another, all of them require looking to someone else to define what is true, be they parents, priests, scientists, charismatic lawmakers, or some other form of authority.

These approaches are also based on staying with whatever beliefs we find comfortable in our lives, the mostly unexamined assumptions by which we live. We admire those who reinforce those beliefs because they affirm the fact we are right. And being wrong is utterly terrifying.

So we avoid the discomfort of examining the reality of our existence, the reality of the unknown which always waits beyond the tidy confines of our limited perceptions. We hide ourselves in the pleasant, and sometimes not so pleasant, fictions of our lives.

What happens when we turn inward to find truth? We find vast unexplored assumptions about what is true, our thinking minds working with agility to maintain those assumptions. We find torrents of emotions which swing in wildly different directions depending on the circumstances, emotions which are so distorted with our own misunderstandings they have taken on shadow energy.

Not only are we blind men describing an elephant, we are probably actually gripping a totally different beast than an elephant in the first place. Truth diminishes rapidly and perhaps disappears completely.

But if we persist on this inward search we may find a clear light of spiritual knowing, which then proves exceedingly difficult to translate into mundane daily reality. Our mental bodies are at odds with our emotional bodies and the physical body frequently is the helpless battlefield. It is no wonder we find it hard to translate spiritual reality into physical reality cleanly without distortion.

So what to do in all this welter of confusion and discordant impulses?

The first step is to establish energetic integrity. What is energetic integrity? That is when actions match the words spoken, when spoken words match the feelings held within the speaker, and when the unspoken energies emanating from the doer harmonize with word and deed.

This takes more work than you might think, because so many people are oblivious to what their energies are doing. Becoming more aware of oneself on all levels is vital to navigating this process successfully.

It also makes it much more clearly apparent when someone you encounter is not operating with energetic integrity. That does not make life more comfortable either.

Surrender is required, a surrender to our own deeper knowing of what is right for us, to our own soul purpose, even if, or especially when, we cannot articulate what that might be. This is usually a hard fought battle.

The mind rebels, our conscious minds really believe they have the steering wheel, even though the conscious mind is always the last to know what is happening. Complicating matters, emotions unexpectedly surge out of control. After surrender, more healing and personal growth can lead to energetic integrity.

And what is the truth that is revealed when one achieves energetic integrity?

As we become more aligned energetically, we do indeed perceive more clearly. We are more in touch with reality on all levels of being. This can be a beautiful experience, as our core essence can now move more freely into physical expression.

The kicker to this process is that the more we know, the more places we touch directly upon the unknown that ever surrounds the known. Each perception, each answer, brings up more questions. So we have the brilliant light of our core essence illuminating the vastness of the unknown around us.

The truth is, we just don’t know.

We may choose to hide from the mighty unknown, dimming the light within us to match our hidey hole, or we can choose instead to take an exuberant ride through the universe with our inner light blazing.

Somewhere along the way great discoveries await. The stars in the heavens stand sentinel, waiting for the lights within us to illuminate all creation.

Copyright © Lexi Sundell 2007. All Rights Reserved.