Two truths approach each other.
One comes from inside, the other from the outside,
And where they meet we have a chance to catch sight of ourselves.
“Preludes,” Tomas Transtromer
If we are at home with our own center, we are frequently aware of the truths that arise there and make themselves known to us. They surprise us (aha moments). They enlighten us. They give us direction. They help us respond to difficulties and trouble. They provide us with guidance as we make choices from day to day.
The degree to which we are at home with our own center and the experience of truth arising there is the degree to which we can hear the sounds of truth arising outside of us. Almost always, isn’t it, that those sounds of what may be truth are coming from someone else’s center?
The friendliest of those experiences are when those sounds of truth arising outside of me are in harmony with the truths that arise inside of me. I feel affirmed and validated, and we all need those experiences. They en-courage us, that is, they build up courage in our hearts that we have understood something important again and again. They help us catch sight of ourselves.
The more difficult of those experiences are when those sounds of truth arising outside of me don’t sound like truth at all. They sound strange, hard, misguided, even wrong. It’s easy at that point to dismiss them. That’s not the sound of truth. It’s just noise. Move on. That actually can help me catch sight of myself, but it may be a picture I’d rather not see. I see an image of me hardened off to anything that I do not immediately recognize. That’s not who I want to be.
What if I hang around a while and listen more deeply, ask more questions, and consider the possibilities? I may come to the conclusion that this strange sound is truth or not. Either way, I will catch sight of myself, and because I gave the strange external sound time, I will have grown in my ability to listen, learn and receive. Curiosity, compassion and courage are powerful friends who live at our center.
~Bob Patrick
Yes! Thanks for writing this piece.
The one element that gave me pause to reflect longer is the word “self” itself. It seems that–in this place called “Center”–one encounters so much more than “self.” And if one’s soul awareness stays receptive to that Larger Interior, “self” starts to transform, to morph, by the awakening influence of Another that has the sense of Thou. Even inviting “self” to transform in ways one cannot anticipate or expect. Those lessons seem to come from a “future that’s coming into the present.” Epiphany-accessed; and that’s where courage merges with creative transformation (or it could).
Thank you again, Bob, for helping find ways to realize my true self.
This theme of centering is so very abstract that I , like many others, have a difficult time recognizing it and then, claiming it as a truth. In your essay, you refer to the space in-between that you can catch sight of yourself. Its not just a hall of mirrors. It goes deeper into an out of body experience where you actually have to disown self to see yourself, to get even a glimpse of who you are and what you represent, your character, your place in the universe. That line of sight is a very shifting and organic space. It is both abstract and META. The in between space can punctuate the rest of your life if you are willing to accept the context and maintain the agility to recontextualize.