The Search after Truth

[Guest guest]

If a man would succeed in his search after truth, he must, in the

first place, shut his eyes to all the traditional superstitions of

the past.

The Jews have traditional superstitions, the Buddhists and the

Zoroastrians are not free from them, neither are the Christians! All

religions have gradually become bound by tradition and dogma.

All consider themselves, respectively, the only guardians of the

truth, and that every other religion is composed of errors. They

themselves are right, all others are wrong! The Jews believe that

they are the only possessors of the truth and condemn all other

religions. The Christians affirm that their religion is the only true

one, that all others are false. Likewise the Buddhists and

Muhammadans; all limit themselves. If all condemn one another, where

shall we search for truth?

All contradicting one another, all cannot be true. If each believes

his particular religion to be the only true one, he blinds his eyes

to the truth in the others. If, for instance, a Jew is bound by the

external practice of the religion of Israel, he does not permit

himself to perceive that truth can exist in any other religion; it

must be all contained in his own!

We should, therefore, detach ourselves from the external forms and

practices of religion. We must realize that these forms and

practices, however beautiful, are but garments clothing the warm

heart and the living limbs of Divine truth. We must abandon the

prejudices of tradition if we would succeed in finding the truth at

the core of all religions. If a Zoroastrian believes that the Sun is

God, how can he be united to other religions? While idolaters believe

in their various idols, how can they understand the oneness of God?

It is, therefore, clear that in order to make any progress in the

search after truth we must relinquish superstition. If all seekers

would follow this principle they would obtain a clear vision of the

truth.

If five people meet together to seek for truth, they must begin by

cutting themselves free from all their own special conditions and

renouncing all preconceived ideas. In order to find truth we must

give up our prejudices, our own small trivial notions; an open

receptive mind is essential. If our chalice is full of self, there is

no room in it for the water of life. The fact that we imagine

ourselves to be right and everybody else wrong is the greatest of all

obstacles in the path towards unity, and unity is necessary if we

would reach truth, for truth is one.

Therefore it is imperative that we should renounce our own particular

prejudices and superstitions if we earnestly desire to seek the

truth. Unless we make a distinction in our minds between dogma,

superstition and prejudice on the one hand, and truth on the other,

we cannot succeed. When we are in earnest in our search for anything

we look for it everywhere. This principle we must carry out in our

search for truth.

Science must be accepted. No one truth can contradict another truth.

Light is good in whatsoever lamp it is burning! A rose is beautiful

in whatsoever garden it may bloom! A star has the same radiance if it

shines from the East or from the West. Be free from prejudice, so

will you love the Sun of Truth from whatsoever point in the horizon

it may arise! You will realize that if the Divine light of truth

shone in Jesus Christ it also shone in Moses and in Buddha. The

earnest seeker will arrive at this truth. This is what is meant by

the 'Search after Truth'.

It means, also, that we must be willing to clear away all that we

have previously learned, all that would clog our steps on the way to

truth; we must not shrink if necessary from beginning our education

all over again. We must not allow our love for any one religion or

any one personality to so blind our eyes that we become fettered by

superstition! When we are freed from all these bonds, seeking with

liberated minds, then shall we be able to arrive at our goal.

The 5 Principles of Truth

These principles are taken from a book entitled Pocket Unity, by

Roach

The First Principle:

There is One Presence and One Power in the universe and in my life -

God the Good. There is one Power: God. Unity believes that God is

omnipresent and omnipotent so there cannot be an opposing power in

the universe. There is only the Presence of God, and God is Good.

God is Spirit and can be described in a multitude of ways eg.,

Father, Mother, Mind, Love, Truth, Health, Power, Energy, Principle,

Source, Creator, Sustainer, Intelligence, Life, Light, Substance,

Joy. Each of these names corresponds to a divine idea or attribute

enshrined in the essence or nature of God. As children of God it is

our birthright to inherit these powerful divine ideas and to express

them in our everyday lives.

The Second Principle:

God is individualized in us as the Christ Spirit, Christ within or

indwelling Christ. As children of God, made in the image and likeness

of God, our true nature is perfect and complete. This inner divinity

is called by many names e.g., the True Self, the Witness, the Spirit

of Truth.

The Christ is not a name for Jesus only, but refers to the essential

divinity in all people. Jesus, the illumined soul, became the Christ

(in other words he realized his divinity) and his promise is that we

can realize it also. Then we can say in truth, as he did, " The Father

and I are one. "

The fact that each of us has this divine or spiritual dimension means

we are always connected to God and always worthy to receive God's

good.

The Third Principle:

God operates in the universe according to the law of mind action.

The Law of Mind Action states that, " Thoughts held in mind, produce

after their kind. " It is the fundamental law by which the universe

operates. This law has been expressed in a variety of ways through

the ages.

The Fourth Principle:

The tools by which we work the law are denial and affirmation.

Myrtle Fillmore, the cofounder of Unity, described denial and

affirmation as the two angels that guard the door of our

consciousness. We deny the power and ultimate reality of appearances

and the limits they seem to place on us and we affirm the Truth of

ourselves as unlimited spiritual beings. Denial is not pretending

that something doesn't exist. Denial releases us from attachment to

appearance and allows us to focus on the Truth through affirmations.

We deny that there is a force of evil and we deny the appearance of

evil as a power in and of itself. By withdrawing our energy and

belief in this way, we can then focus our energies and attention on

the Presence and Power of God and God's divine ideas working in our

lives. We also deny that there is any true separation between God and

man and man and creation.

Denials create a vacuum in consciousness which needs to be filled

with positive thoughts and feelings. It is important therefore that

we follow up a denial with an affirmation.

The Fifth Principle:

The best way to practice the Principles is through prayer and

meditation and then in every thought, word and action.

Affirmative prayer is the alignment of our consciousness with the

perfection of God's consciousness. This is a daily activity. It is in

the secret place of our hearts that we connect and commune with God.

This place is often referred to as The Silence.

We enter the Silence in formal times of prayer and meditation but we

also pray every time we remember our true nature. We carry this

prayer consciousness with us in everything we say and do.

'Seek the truth, the truth shall make you free.' So shall we see the

truth in all religions, for truth is in all and truth is one!