We are meditating on Truth and its opposite. The Cosmic Christ dwells in each of us and declares: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” Truth is a way, a journey, a process.
This parallels Gandhi’s telling us that truth is his religion and the basis of his life.
This should not be interpreted to mean Christ is the only way, but that Truth is a way. Living Truth as a Way results in Life.
If we are other Christs, then the question arises: How are we Truth for one another? How can we make Truth a Way?
We provide a way or path for others by our example of living out our values, walking our talk, finding a balance in our struggle between solitude and community, action and contemplation, laughter and grief, hope and despair, being and becoming, masculine and feminine, yin and yang.
We provide truth for one another by our own open-minded and heartfelt hunting and gathering of truth. When we stand up for truth and against false powers of any kind, we are bearing witness to truth and its possibility—and that too is a Divine activity.
In this way our pursuit of the truth of our vocations becomes truth for one another. To live out one’s vocation fully, courageously, and generously is to invite others to do the same.
We are Life for one another when we put our love of life ahead of fear or control, disappointment or anger. When we put life first, preferring the God of Life to the Gods of Institutions, Consumerism, Empire, and Religion. In short, when we resist false gods or idols of power.
We drink in life, we surrender to it, praise it, fall in love with it daily, sacrifice for it, celebrate it, fight to see that others have ample opportunities to do the same. We undergo its sometimes painful and challenging demands.
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And of course we bring new life into the world. Sometimes this is literal life–babies call us to vocations of parenting and grandparenting, responsible citizenship and the nourishment of life in its multiple expressions.
We bring new life into the world by bringing values of justice and compassion in our work and citizenship grounded in truth and not in denial. Denial is a form of falsehood which Aquinas calls a “mortal sin,” meaning an immoral virus deadly to ourselves and our society. He says it is a mortal sin to choose to be ignorant of something important to self or society. Denial is exactly that: A choice to be ignorant.
To deny climate change is such a deadly lie therefore. Or to deny the reality of a deadly virus in our midst. Or the presence of racism and its incarnation in white supremacism, and many other places. Or the presence of sexism and misogyny. Matricide results from denial of climate change and kills mother earth as we know her.
No wonder Meister Eckhart said: “God is the denial of denial.”
Adapted from Matthew Fox and Bishop Marc Andrus, Stations of the Cosmic Christ, pp. 117-119.
Banner Image: Peaceful Uprising founder Tim DeChristopher and Roxbury, MA clergy lead a protest march in 2016, linking a local pipeline to a mass grave for victims of climate-caused heat in Pakistan. Photo by Peter Bowden on Flickr; referencing DeChristopher’s video, “The Age of Anticipatory Mass Graves.”
What does it mean to you to understand Truth as a Way or process or journey? And the Cosmic Christ dwelling within you to remind you of that?
Resurrection Logic: How Jesus’ First Followers Believed God Raised Him from the Dead
Bruce Chilton investigates the Easter event of Jesus in Resurrection Logic. He undertakes his close reading of the New Testament texts without privileging the exact nature of the resurrection, but rather begins by situating his study of the resurrection in the context of Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, and Syrian conceptions of the afterlife. He then identifies Jewish monotheistic affirmations of bodily resurrection in the Second Temple period as the most immediate context for early Christian claims. Chilton surveys first-generation accounts of Jesus’ resurrection and finds a pluriform–and even at times seemingly contradictory–range of testimony from Jesus’ first followers. This diversity, as Chilton demonstrates, prompted early Christianity to interpret the resurrection traditions by means of prophecy and coordinated narrative.
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3 thoughts on “Truth as a Way of Life”
UNUVERSAL TRUTH = The Creation Spirituality organization of this great teacher of mine Mr. Matthew Fox.
The Republicans in leadership who have fed the lies about the election bear a tremendous responsibility to have courage and tell the truth.
Searching for the Truth has been part of my work in this life time. From early on, I had trouble believing what the church taught , but I had no one to share my doubts with in my all-catholic town, where we were taught that there was only one way: the church’s way. Finding my own Truth was an ongoing struggle for I had the tendency to believe words from others rather than trust in my own intuition.
One great lesson that I have gradually learned is that my own thoughts are not all to be believed either! Negative thoughts that create fear or anger or worry, etc. are not from my loving Mother- Father- God, but from my ego that is always trying to fool me. They are simply NOT TRUE! So I look for what is True for Me, and go with it. Then wonderful peace, joy and love take over and I am free!