Can The Truth Really Set Me Free?
What is truth; can it free you, hurt you or possibly destroy you? Is truth a hammer that crushes illusions and lies or a hug that heals restoring hope? Does truth require faith, facts or authoritative opinion? Is truth stagnant and stable or does it evolve with the environment we live in?
I watch the preacher speaking words from the Word proclaiming ultimate truth and authority within the parables of the ancient parchment called the Bible. He is talking about how victims continue to victimize themselves by living in the pains of the past, trapped within their own personal tragedy. His statements cut with precision slicing through the self-pity some have adopted as their true religion. The assertions he speaks hammer against my own “poor me” attitude having to stay in a hotel the night before spending money I really didn’t have; but I did have it, because if I didn’t I would’ve been sleeping in my car last night. So how do I feel sorry for something that could’ve happened but didn’t? Is this a subtle example of fabrications I’ve preserved to maintain my lack of confidence?
When new clients come into my office seeking something to take them from the place they are in to a place they have never been. Often my imagination sees counseling as Christopher Columbus disproving that the world is not flat but a sphere of opportunities. I think of the infinitesimal fibs we’ve partnered with to keep us from attaining the best “me”, we could be.
I hear the Pastor telling the people that they are going to make it, so is this truth or a trick of a smooth tongue, or is he speaking a truth we have yet to discover? I reflect on my studies in psychology on how theories are proven fact through a series of tests and trials. Scientific ideas are ruthlessly run through peer reviews, research and multiple re-examinations. If our lives were a lab test or a life experiment what truths or lies would be proven?
When we boil truth down to its basic components we see the testimony of experience, the reality of results, the reoccurring ramifications of our positive or negative behaviors. I often witness tests with my clients on whether they will believe in a better future or live in the bondage of brokenness. The life experiment we all participate in appears to be a pie sliced into portions of faith, fear, trust, anger, forgiveness and love. The truth is discovered when we measure the proportions we have in each piece.
The critical nature of my career opens my eyes to see fear and anger way out of proportion to the other parts of the soul. This is a simple debt to income ratio that if the debt of our negativity outweighs the income of our positivity we will become bankrupt emotionally. The chemical reaction to the perceptions of pain and self-pity impairs our intuition, infects our intellect and clouds our vision. When this happens we can’t understand the truth or even see it when it stands right in front of us.
The science of psychology calls this state of mind denial; my imagination sees this as a battered brain bleeding bitterness creating a perceptual glaucoma. So in order to receive the truth we need to heal our heart, recognizing the truth that we have taken some serious damage and we cannot continue to roll on as if nothing is wrong. We need to call an ambulance and go to the hospital; it is almost comical how many people recognize the symptoms of sickness but continue to ignore the clues to an emotional or physical cancer.
We die in ignorance like a caveman refusing the learn how to make fire choosing to hide in the cave of our insecurities. We choose to believe nothing will ever change, things will never get better, my life has no meaning and that hope and love is the stuff of unicorns and leprechauns. Our Faith is to have “No Faith”. Our love is for the things that keep us from being loved. When truth is applied to these deceptive defense mechanisms chains are broken and blindness is burned away.
What I’ve discovered in my life thus far is that we make truth true or we manufacture lies as our legacy. What we truly believe about ourselves will become our destiny or our disease. When your Pastor, mentor, counselor, sibling, spouse or parent attempts to encourage you, they are pleading with you to believe in a new truth for your existence. I know people can figure out my faith and I’m really not trying to preach the Word even though the Word is my truth. I simply want you to understand that if you decide today to embrace a better truth your life can recover, redeem and rediscover its true purpose. Some of us are dying inside with souls shriveled by sadness. The pain we feel has become a security blanket we’ve cocooned ourselves within… I urge you to take the blanket off, go outside, see the Sun and learn to breathe free air again!
My own truth is apparent as I write this new article feeling the tears crease the corners of my eyes. I know without a doubt that compassion is the passion… that pulses in my counseling style. I will work with anybody that wants to work. I will partner with anyone that wants to purge their pain. I believe that people can change regardless of relapse, heartbreaks, or promises broken; I just can’t help it because I’ve seen how much I’ve changed and if my evolution is not over with, then neither is yours. You are designed to be better than your disease, stronger than your sickness, more powerful than your pain! This is the truth I want to give to you… will you accept it or will you continue to be bound by the chains of your own complacency?
