Obstacles to Truth

Living a life of truth is not easy. There are many obstacles. Christ's parable of the seeds sowed on different soils is but only one of many lessons about the difficulties of living a life of truth. There are seeds landing in a sandy soil, or seeds picked up by birds, or seeds landing in fertile soil but lacked constant care and watering, crowded out by weeds or dried up and withered. Only the lucky few seeds that landed on the soil that has been properly prepared, and received the daily care and attention, defended against predators and nurtured with love; these lucky few selected out of many by circumstances and serendipity, get to rise as the proverbial mustard seed to be a might tree, providing shades and comfort to all.

We should not complain that there are so few among us who are saints and leaders of the true faith, but be thankful and awed that there are in fact, miraculously so many who lived a life of truth, in spite of all the obstacles that are so common in the human experience of living.

According to M. Scott Peck in his book "People of the Lie", it took a lot of prayers and reflection before he decided to write about evil and more specifically people who do evil. He estimated that the percentage of truely evil people is around 1%. The numerical percentage is neither important nor significant to be accurate. It is not the absolute number, but the proportion relative to the rest of us. Indeed, it is reasonable to think that the central theorm of statistics applies to the spiritual qualities of the general population, just as much as it applies in terms of intelligence and other attributes. If the number of truely saintly spiritual leaders among us is so small, we should not be surprised that the number of truely evil people is also similarly small. What we are surprised by, is the effect of these relatively few, on the suffering of the world. As someone wise has once said, when good people stand by and do nothing, evil rules the world. It is why Christ taught us to be light to the world, not hidden under tables or beds, but raised high as beacons to chase away the darkness. Since it is difficult, and indeed, sometimes dangerous to live a life of truth, to shine brightly, the amount of light in the world is directly proportional to the amount of courage among the rest of us.

It takes courage to be open and vulnerable in a world filled with chaotic aggression. The Nobel Peace prize deservedly was awarded to Mikhail Gorbachev because of his immense courage and wisdom to unilaterally open up the Soviet Union with Glasnost, in a period when cloak and dagger games are played in all the countries in the world. Sometimes, the only winning strategy is not to play.

Another great spiritual leader of recent times repeatedly told us, "Be not afraid." That's the message that John Paul II told the world again and again because fear is the enemy of truth, the harbinger of lies, and the birds that steal away the seeds. When fear grips our attention and focus our energy towards protecting our vulnerabilities, we are isolated from one another, and paradoxically becoming more vulnerable to the weapons and enemies of truth.

Although most people are not evil, many of us are the owner of bad habits and bad desires. We are so ingrained with these habits and desires that we often are not aware of their effects. Most of the aggression in the world are not perpetuated by evil people, but ordinary people not knowing what they do. We are so used to being in control of our own environment, being human, that we sometimes demand to be in control, to dominate, no matter what. It is this tendency to dominate, in what ever form, physically, emotionally, mentally, that creates conflicts. Bullies dominate physically as well as verbally. Cult leaders dominate spiritually as well as emotionally. When we do not stand up to bullies, we allow their domination to permeate our lives, as the German people did in World War II, and allowed the Nazis to hijack their proud nation into evil deeds. It takes courage, and sometimes sacrifice to stand up to bullies. Yet, it also takes wisdom to discern the difference between standing up against aggression, and being the agent of aggression ourselves. There is a fine line that we must not cross - the Solzhenitsen Line that runs through every heart regardless of race, of creed, of nationality, that separates good from evil. Nazi Germany was not evil because the German people was evil, but because a few evil men took control while good men stood by and did nothing. If the Allied forces also stood by and did nothing, the world would be a far worse place to live today.

In addition to bullies, there are also liars and thieves, who are the other obstacles to people who try to live a life of truth. Obviously, liars are oppose to truth since they would be exposed. The same is true for thieves exposed to truth, their deeds become known and their ill-gotten gains become symbols of shame instead of symbols of status. Most people do not commit overt blatant acts of lying or thievery. But just as truth is difficult to define precisely, so often lies and stealing can be also ambiguous. What is important for utopia, is for each person to be clear in his or her own mind, to strive towards Satyagraha, and not be fooled by one's own desires, or social conformity, or whatever reasons. As the old adage goes, to thy ownself be true. Although Christ taught us to judge not, we are also told to be wise as scorpions, and discern the lies from the truth, to judge according to the fruits, and not be fooled by the glamour of the tree. The obstacles to Satyagraha are not external factors so much as our own response to these factors, our own fear of bullies, our own credulity to lies, and our own greed. From these inner responses to external factors, we lose our way on the road to live a life of truth.