Good News / Metaphysics

A Memo For You
by Wayne Ferguson 27.02.2004, changed 20.08.2004

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A Memo for You!? But of what do you need to be reminded? ...of something not so far from each and every one of us? ...the elephant in the room, perchance? ...the truth!? Ahhh--the truth! But what is truth? And from whence is our forgetfulness?

Truth is aletheia1 -- the un-forgetting of that which simply IS --that with respect to which we tend to be oblivious. Oblivious by virtue of our incarnation--our drinking from the river Lethe2 and our subsequent preoccupation with mere appearances.

But once again, what is truth?

Truth-- like God --is that in which "we live, and move, and have our Being." 4 But what is that? Is truth that, perhaps, which ultimately appears in the world of appearances? Is truth that which is sometimes revealed and sometimes concealed5, depending on our way of seeing--our way of comporting ourself, both with respect to our world and to the power that grounds it!?

But what is that?, you may rightly ask again! Just what is that elusive reality? The answer is very simple: You are that!6 Christ-like, you can say, I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life. 7 Alas, saying it is easy enough, but truly living it requires a condition of complete simplicity (costing not less than everything). 8 Thus, it is written:

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it" (Matthew 13:45-46).

If the meaning and purpose of existence is eluding you-- think! --what are you holding back? And what would you give in exchange for your Soul?9 Remember--there's more to You than meets the eye! Best wishes as you continue on your Way.

Notes


1. aletheia is a transliteration of the greek work that is usually translated truth. The "a" at the beginning (a-letheia) is sometimes refered to as 'the alpha privative' which expresses absense or negation.

2. The river Lethe refers to 'the river of forgetfulness' featured in the 'Myth of Ur' from Book X of Plato's Republic. The Souls that are about to be reincarnated are made to drink from this river to blot out the memory of their pre-existence.

3. "mere appearances" -- For a brief introduction to the distinction between Reality and appearances, see the cave allegory at the beginning of Book VII of Plato's Republic.

4. "In Him we live, and move, and have our Being." Acts 17:28, The New Testament.

5. The phrase revealing and concealing is borrowed from Heideggerian philosophy. Heidegger describes aletheia as an unconcealing.

6. "You are that!" This notion comes from the Hindu Scriptures, "The Upanishads."

7. "I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life..." The words of Jesus from the New Testament (John 14:6).

8. "A condition of complete simplicity" From Little Gidding, The Four Quartets, by T. S. Eliot.

9. "What would you give in exchange for your Soul" See Matthew 16:26, The New Testament.