Truth As A Value

[JKG]

I often heard Leo and other people saying that it is important to set Truth as your highest value in life?

This sounds reasonable but very abstract to me.

What is it really like to value Truth? How can you know that you value Truth? Do you just meditate and contemplate a lot, question your beliefs, become radically open-minded and study a lot of stuff like mysticism, spirituality or science? Or are you always in touch with absolute infinity?

How can you know whether Truth is your highest value or not?

And how can I value Truth more? I assume that just writing Truth at the top of your value list isn't the right thing to do.

 

[Key Elements]

Great question. To me, the bottom line is everything is equal. In fact, it's more than just that, many have been saying in the forum that "all (everything) is you." Everything is interconnected. What does this mean? Well, it's not something that could be explained easily. It's much easier to find out through actions. If you build a life purpose and incorporate this in some way, it's totally different than if you don't. 

Another thing is, if you ever had ah-ha moments and tried to explain that to some random stranger, you know the reaction. That means if you want to embody that in your life purpose, you would have to use strategies around that to watch out for your target audience.

Truth is a wisdom - usually an out of the ordinary wisdom - that you want to embody in your life in some way. You do want to express it, but understand that you have to be careful when expressing it. You would rather share it fully with the right people.

Edited December 17, 2016 by Key Elements

[Aware]

Well asked! Great is that question of yours!

Please listen to me very carefully as I will answer your question.

When one hears about the true nature of reality, a teaching taught from a master who lives up to his teachings is the path leading to the path of freedom of mind. Being able to have such a chance is a result of accumulating repeatedly wholesome deeds leading to have such a chance.

How so? By accumulating wholesome deeds born from secluding from: Unwholesome views, intentions, speech, acts, effort, livelihood, attention and concentration, one grows wary of feelings, physical objects and mental conditions, namely: Sense impressions, mental formations, mental shapes, perception, intellect and consciousness.      

When he grows wary of these things, one realizes their impermanence, their instability, their emptiness and becomes disgust by them. When disgust by them one is detached from these conditions, when detached one realizes being freed of them, being freed from them, one knows, they are not of me, you, them, ours, theirs; aren't me, or you, them or theirs; all things arise, and perish according to the conditions they arose from and according to their true nature.

After realizing this, one becomes a noble seeker of Truth and starts asking noble questions such as: What is truth, and what is the truth? How can we become intelligent and wise? What is a holy life and how to practice this?

When hearing the Truth about the true nature of reality, surely one streams directly to the path, and will from there on value Truth, and becoming completely free of mind becomes his supreme goal of life which the noble student will strive for everlasting and will there for soon, or later become free of mind, peaceful of mind by living secluded from: Unwholesome views, intentions, speech, acts, effort, livelihood, attention and concentration. The noble student instead puts his attention on himself and concentrates on Awareness that is all pervasive, not bound to one body or mind, but is at the seat of all hearts. The mind without defilements is unborn, not bound and knows no origin, here the noble student meditates on with great effort, and doing so, surely the noble student will become free of mind soon, or later.

 

[Leo Gura]

@quantum To value a thing means you prioritize it above other things vying for your attention.

How your prioritize things then affects all your actions and choices.

Ex: Are you gonna spend time contemplating, or go jerk off, or go earn money, or go play video games?

At some level, your priorities determine that.

Consider for a moment, just how different your entire life would be if you truly set Truth as your highest priority.

Wow! What a thought.

[kurt]

3 minutes ago, NTOgen said:

And yet you chastise me for it...

Grow up.

[Emerald]

9 hours ago, quantum said:

I often heard Leo and other people saying that it is important to set Truth as your highest value in life?

This sounds reasonable but very abstract to me.

What is it really like to value Truth? How can you know that you value Truth? Do you just meditate and contemplate a lot, question your beliefs, become radically open-minded and study a lot of stuff like mysticism, spirituality or science? Or are you always in touch with absolute infinity?

How can you know whether Truth is your highest value or not?

And how can I value Truth more? I assume that just writing Truth at the top of your value list isn't the right thing to do.

 

I define Truth as "being aware of and accepting reality exactly as it is beyond all thoughts, concepts, frameworks, and assumptions." It is the ability to see through illusions. An example that I can think of, in my personal experience, that relates to Truth is how I learned how to draw/paint realistically. So, I went into art class in high school not knowing how to draw. I was drawing symbolically from my left brain. So, if I saw a desk, I would draw a desk. Or if I saw a chair, I would draw a chair. These drawings never truly had realism. But then I learned the Truth that the visual field is actually a flat plane of shapes imbued with colors. There are no actual separate objects... it's all one thing. So, then, I just observed the shapes imbued with colors exactly as they were and my drawing/painting skills improved dramatically, almost overnight. Afterward, it was simply a matter of training my eyes to see more and more subtle details and subtle colors that the average person may not pick up on. So, a person who looks at a black piece of construction paper may only see black, but I see many different subtle colors. This is what awareness of the Truth does. 

[kurt]

25 minutes ago, Emerald Wilkins said:

 But then I learned the Truth that the visual field is actually a flat plane of shapes imbued with colors. There are no actual separate objects... it's all one thing. 

What do you mean? Care to elaborate?

[Emerald]

6 minutes ago, kurt said:

What do you mean? Care to elaborate?

It means just that everything you see is basically a flat screen of shapes and colors with no separations or delineations, nothing more. So, separate objects don't exist within the visual field or in any of the other sensory fields. They are only an apparent reality that we interpret (with analytical thought) based on repeated experiences and corresponding other-sensory field experiences. For example, we learn that certain shapes paired with certain colors/shades within the visual field have depth because we're used to feeling that depth in our tactual/sensational field. But the depth doesn't actual exist in the flat plane of our visual field. It is only the illusion of depth due to particular placements of certain shapes and colors that we're used to interpreting that way. 

[kurt]

4 minutes ago, Emerald Wilkins said:

It means just that everything you see is basically a flat screen of shapes and colors with no separations or delineations, nothing more. So, separate objects don't exist within the visual field or in any of the other sensory fields. They are only an apparent reality that we interpret (with analytical thought) based on repeated experiences and corresponding other-sensory field experiences. For example, we learn that certain shapes paired with certain colors/shades within the visual field have depth because we're used to feeling that depth in our tactual/sensational field. But the depth doesn't actual exist in the flat plane of our visual field. It is only the illusion of depth due to particular placements of certain shapes and colors that we're used to interpreting that way. 

Thanks.  Is there anything "out there" beyond our thoughts of "it"?

[Emerald]

16 minutes ago, kurt said:

Thanks.  Is there anything "out there" beyond our thoughts of "it"?

In terms of depth/space existing or not, I'm not entirely sure. I know that I feel sensations that seem to be floating in space while remaining spatially relative and proportional to one another. But I'm not sure if they actually have depth/space/distance/direction or take up space or even maintain consistent proportional/directional relationships to one another. It could be that the illusion of depth only has an apparent reality (tactually) due to repeated experiences with the visual field as well. So, it's basically like two illusions that require one another to function. But I haven't been able to get a clear, un-thought clouded experience of my physical sensations. My mind loves jumping in with visuals. So, I don't know if I actually experience right/left/up/down in my tactual experiential field, or if size is something that I actually experience, or if my sensations take up any space at all. It's a mysterious medium of reality, that always seems to elude my grip. 

Edited December 18, 2016 by Emerald Wilkins

[abrakamowse]

Maybe this can be of help:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure–ground_(perception)

 

Figure–ground organization is a type of perceptual grouping which is a vital necessity for recognizing objects through vision. In Gestalt psychology it is known as identifying a figure from the background. For example, you see words on a printed paper as the "figure" and the white sheet as the "background".

[kurt]

On 12/18/2016 at 4:27 AM, Emerald Wilkins said:

In terms of depth/space existing or not, I'm not entirely sure. I know that I feel sensations that seem to be floating in space while remaining spatially relative and proportional to one another. But I'm not sure if they actually have depth or take up space or even maintain consistent proportional/directional relationships to one another. It could be that the illusion of depth only has an apparent reality (tactually) due to repeated experiences with the visual field as well. So, it's basically like two illusions that require one another to function. But I haven't been able to get a clear, un-thought clouded experience of my physical sensations. My mind loves jumping in with visuals. So, I don't know if I actually experience right/left/up/down in my tactual experiential field, or if size is something that I actually experience, or if my sensations take up any space at all. It's a mysterious medium of reality, that always seems to elude my grip. 

Are you sure?  'Apparent reality' just refers to the illusion that there are many sentient beings here, which in 'reality' there is not: there is only one sentient being, me, you, whatever, its the same witness - the all pervading, underlying substrate that animates all phenomena.  There is only one person here, and I am deluded by many factors operating in the field of existence. But there IS space and depth, even in the mind too where experience 'happens', the mind measures dimensions true to the objects it sees 'out there'.  Space and depth are aspects of awareness, how can they not be?  You hear and feel a bus drive past your house at certain hours of the day and not at others.  Its absurd to imagine otherwise.

[WelcometoReality]

On 2016-12-17 at 7:02 PM, quantum said:

I often heard Leo and other people saying that it is important to set Truth as your highest value in life?

This sounds reasonable but very abstract to me.

What is it really like to value Truth? How can you know that you value Truth? Do you just meditate and contemplate a lot, question your beliefs, become radically open-minded and study a lot of stuff like mysticism, spirituality or science? Or are you always in touch with absolute infinity?

How can you know whether Truth is your highest value or not?

And how can I value Truth more? I assume that just writing Truth at the top of your value list isn't the right thing to do.

You contemplate about what is true or not. Every topic of contemplation is attacked at various angels, new perspectives until you have a close approximation of what is true.

Being open minded helps because you will not be stuck in a certain perspective. And no single perspective is true. There are some level of truth in many different perspectives.

How can you value truth more? Well it's truth or TV and cheetos. Your choice. (I just had to)

[ajasatya]

@quantum for me it's about compassion, forgiving, listening, helping, giving and loving.

[LetTheNewDayBegin]

On 17/12/2016 at 6:02 PM, quantum said:

What is it really like to value Truth? How can you know that you value Truth?

Hi @quantum , it's quite simple! Absolutely stop valuing lies. Have you done that already?

Edited December 21, 2016 by LetTheNewDayBegin

[JKG]

On 17.12.2016 at 10:07 PM, Leo Gura said:

Consider for a moment, just how different your entire life would be if you truly set Truth as your highest priority.

Wow! What a thought.

I would imagine that such a person would have absolute accurate perception of the world around him - clear sensations, no strictly hold beliefs about anything, seeing everything as possible, not identifying "oneself" with anything, being radically honest and authentic.

Simply...

On 18.12.2016 at 4:20 AM, Emerald Wilkins said:

"being aware of and accepting reality exactly as it is beyond all thoughts, concepts, frameworks, and assumptions."

When all of these filters fall away. One sees reality in its purest form. And becomes one with it. Beautiful.

Then one incorporates these qualities...

On 21.12.2016 at 9:23 PM, ajasatya said:

compassion, forgiving, listening, helping, giving and loving

and one secludes from the following...

On 17.12.2016 at 7:44 PM, Motus said:

Unwholesome views, intentions, speech, acts, effort, livelihood, attention and concentration, one grows wary of feelings, physical objects and mental conditions, namely: Sense impressions, mental formations, mental shapes, perception, intellect and consciousness.      

When he grows wary of these things, one realizes their impermanence, their instability, their emptiness and becomes disgust by them. When disgust by them one is detached from these conditions, when detached one realizes being freed of them, being freed from them, one knows, they are not of me, you, them, ours, theirs; aren't me, or you, them or theirs; all things arise, and perish according to the conditions they arose from and according to their true nature.

 

Thank you all