LEARNING THE TRUTH

What is the process of learning the truth? Is it something you sense, intuit, think about or feel? Is it varying combinations of these ways of experiencing reality? Furthermore, are our attitudes toward the external world and our attitudes concerning how we live our lives from our inner world revealing whether we are living from our egos or from the Spirit of God?

Carl Jung delineated a system of looking at how we interact with our environments. We are either extraverting or introverting and move between these two states in experiencing reality. Following is an explanation of his observations with my additions of the mental and spiritual senses that don’t ‘appear’ to be physical:

Extraverting and Introverting

When you deal with the world outside of yourself, you are extraverting. Associated activities are: talking to other people, listening to what others are saying, carrying out mundane activities and performing tasks for a desired purpose. When you deal with the activities of thoughts and ideas in your mind, you are introverting. Associated activities are: reading a book, thinking about what you want to say or do, being aware of how you feel and thinking through a problem in order to understand it. A balance between extraverting and introverting keeps us in sync with our body and mind.

Sensing and Intuiting

When you sense something you use your five physical senses to see, hear, smell, taste or touch something. Associated activities are: tasting food, noticing changes in your environment, memorizing items and following steps in a plan. When you intuit something you generate abstract possibilities from gathered information beyond your five physical senses; mentally (psychically; 6th sense) or spiritually (7th sense). Associated activities are: coming up with new ways of doing things, thinking about future implications of current actions or inactions, perceiving underlying meanings and motivations of what people say or do and seeing the bigger picture. When you are relying solely on your five physical senses you are ‘extraverting’ and when you rely on more than your five physical senses and utilize your 6th and 7th senses you are ‘introverting’. A balance between sensing and intuiting keeps us in sync with our inner and outer environments.

Thinking and Perceiving

When you think about something you are using your mental processes of logic and reason derived from your physical observations and subsequent perceptions of your environment. Associated activities are: researching options and determining who has a stake in the game concerning the presentation of facts, doing the right thing whether or not we like it, choosing not to overindulge and establishing guidelines and methods for performing actions and behaviors. When we feel about something we are using our pre-programmed beliefs (6th sense) or spiritual values (7th sense) to make decisions that affect our well-being and the well-being of others. Associated activities are: deciding to do something because we like it, refraining from saying something that will upset others, deciding to not do something because of the ‘vibe’ of the environment and deciding to be in proximity of loved ones. A balance between thinking and feeling keeps us in sync with our logical conclusions, reasonable assumptions, emotional beliefs and spiritual values.

Judging and Perceiving

When you judge something you are using your own standards of thinking, feeling, believing, speaking, acting and behaving to determine what others ‘should’ be doing to be accurate, factual, orderly and resolved. Associated activities are: making ‘things to do’ lists, scheduling things in advance, forming and expressing judgments on others behaviors and bringing closure to an issue so that you can move on. When you perceive something you are being flexible and spontaneous to your experiences in your environment. Instead of ‘judging’ thing on your own standards, you ‘discern’ things based on ‘how they are’ and not how you ‘believe they ‘should’ be’. Perceivers allow things to be ‘open-ended’ without having to be resolved. Associated activities are: postponing decisions to be open to other options and possibilities, acting spontaneously, deciding what to do as you are doing it (as opposed to doing it with a plan; ‘riding the crest of the wave’, so to speak) and doing things at the last minute. A balance between judging and perceiving keeps us in sync with our own accepted standards and the standards of others that perhaps we haven’t considered that could yield more effective results in our lives.

Learning the truth requires us to be open and receptive to it. Following is a plan where we can all benefit from the discernment of the truth despite our ego’s yearnings to control, dominate and manipulate it to our own end

Question everything – Questioning our experiences is the heart of truth seeking. No matter what we experience we need to not jump to conclusions based on partial information. Always question authority, family, friends, co-workers, bosses, religious leaders; in other words, question all of our experiences because we don’t always see the entire picture.

Investigate the evidence – Go to the library after you search the Internet to determine whether the evidence we have discovered is viable, probable and mostly, factual. Don’t accept everything that we are told as being true as being true.

Consider the source – Who is funding the research studies that we have discovered that are presenting the ‘facts’ in a form that leads us to ‘logical’ conclusions? Do they have an agenda? If so, what is that agenda? If not, then why are they presenting these ‘facts’ in the first place?

Discern more than judge – Discernment has no personal agenda like judging does. Discerning means to evaluate the facts without a personal skew on whether or not the facts meet with our own personal value system.

Determine conclusions – After observing, perceiving and evaluating the facts ‘separate’ from our own belief and value systems, we can come to conclusions that are taking everyone into consideration.

By understanding how we interact with our environment in the gathering, evaluation and implementation of information, we can more effectively make sound decisions based on how these decisions affect everyone and NOT just ourselves.

We are NOT islands existing in a sea of delusion. We are interconnected, interdependent and interspersed with talents, skills and abilities that we all need to mutually survive, strive and thrive in our environment. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.

MORE SAYINGS

Time is when your lease on now expires. ~J Ross Dock Hester

When we choose to be true to ourselves we sometimes lose focus as to where we are. It is inner guidance that allows our inner well-being to flourish despite feelings of 'not-knowing' where we are. We just have to allow the peace, understanding, joy and Divine love to flow from within to without. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.

What values are the most important to fulfilling your Divine purpose in Divine order? It’s simpler than you might think! Follow 'we' instead of 'me' for you to ‘see’ what you should ‘be’! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.

I am a human being endowed with feelings that should never be regulated by anyone else unless they violate life, love and the freedom to share. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.

The only place you truly ever find yourself is in Divine service to others. It is there that who you are aligns with what you should be. Give Divine love from your heart and share your inner well-being with others. That is the secret to complete and utter fulfillment. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.