Theos-Talk Archives (November 1993 Message tl00041)

A big question that faces every seeker in life is how do we distinguish
the real from the unreal? Especially in metaphysics, where there is no
authority that everyone can agree to that would be the final word on any
issue, this question is of vast importance.

We can start off, in this search for Truth, by examining where it is not
to be found. If we find some words that are dead, dusty, lifeless, a
corpse of thought, meaningly jibberish to us, there is nothing of value
in them to us. Perhaps the words contain a living truth that we just are
not ready for. It doesn't really matter, for at this point in time the
spirit is not contained therein, and we are looking for Truth where it
*can* be found, not where it *should* be found. The important thing is
to seek out that which works for us, and not hang onto anything just
because someone else says that they find it special.

Wisdom, truth, reality is not found in affirmnations, chants, demands
for something to happen. It is not based upon visulations of colors,
deities, energies. You do not achieve it by closing your eyes and trying
for existence on other planes. There is no special advantage derived
from membership in any group nor by professing a belief in something. It
is not found by giving special consideration to words from someone
claiming to channel Jesus, some Master, or some high being of another
plane.

Some of us may join an esoteric school. Even membership in such a
school, if it goes with any feeling of superiority or exclusiveness, is
a detriment, a obstacle, a barrier to spiritual development.

Many things may be tried as *aids* to spiritual cultivation, to the
acquisition of wisdom, to a finding of the Truth. When we forget that
they are just that--aids--and mistake them for the thing that we
aspire, we've lost sight of our true goal and are, at best, wasting
our time.

The Wisdom is not to be found in some arbitrary set of numbers, rules,
steps, formula. There is no special spell, incantation, or prayer that
will do the trick for us. Our future progress has not been held back
simple because we haven't been told the easy way to progress. There is
no short-cut to inner development. There is no special "secret" that
only has to be told to us to enable us to rapidly move forward.

And Wisdom is certainly not found in external possessions, equipment,
tools--be they the latest of modern science--nor in reading about and
quoting the latest scientific speculations and theories. Wisdom does
not come by association with any external belief system, regardless of
its apparent success in the world; it does not come as a glory derived
by association.

What, then, can we say of a genuine source of the Wisdom Teachings?
How can we know when we've found it? What are the characteristics of
it, and how can we recognize changes in ourselves that show that we're
in touch with it?

We cultivate the spiritual in our lives, we train ourselves in noble
though and action, we learn to function in the impersonal, the selfless,
and we fill ourselves with a genuine love for humanity, a love that
seeks to find expression in the outer world. By making ourselves into
agents for good in the world, by striving for the highest within, we
have brought ourselves in touch with the higher side to life, and find
doors opening that we never new existed!

                                 Eldon Tucker (eldon@netcom.com)