Throughout the ages, there have been only a few pillars upon which standards have been developed for discerning Truth. Reason is one of them. Plato wrote about it millennia ago. Reason has been applied by individuals, groups of individuals and most nations. Reason is the basic foundation of the Republic. Modern republics exist because their peoples have accepted the basic veracity of reason and have agreed to live by it.
Sages that lived in India and China gave us simple principles to live by whereby we can learn to supplement Truth with intuition in order to fill in gaps that reason leaves us with when we ask really hard questions, such as posing moral dilemmas, or complex questions that include overwhelming amounts of data, often with conflicting components.
With a balance of reason and intuition, it seems that we can know anything we need to know in order to proceed wisely in any situation. They give us wisdom. Great leaders tend to master that balance not just to accumulate power and win the consent of those they govern, but to advance their civilization in ways that reflect that wisdom.
Now, we seem to have come to a point where Truth itself is being marginalized in the public discourse. Not that there is conflict in opposing views, but that Truth just doesn’t matter. What is replacing Truth as the most important thing is belief.
Truth cannot be controlled. Belief can. Just as mighty conquerors would impose a new order on the civilizations of the conquered, modern conquerors are doing the same. They are using the same model, only the currency has changed. The old currency was weapons and brute force. The new currency is money and persuasion. It used to be the biggest army that prevailed. That is more difficult to pull off these days, since too many people are now aware of the Truth, which is the most powerful ally. Now, it is the biggest megaphone that wishes to neutralize that most powerful ally. Truth must be discredited. Not true, who cares?
Fortunately, there is an even a bigger movement afoot that will ultimately preserve the dignity of mankind, and perhaps the human race. The vast majority still recognizes Truth and continues to hone intuition and balance it with reason.
Meditation for balancing reason and intuition.
Stay tuned.
