Truth Belongs to Those Who Don’t Seek to Own it
How to Keep Growing
When you think of truth, even truth through revelation, don’t confuse it with absolute Truth. A good rule of thumb to differentiate between the two is this: if you can put it into words, if you can make a positive statement about it, if you can make an exclusive statement about it, it is NOT absolute Truth. It may be your personal truth, it may be a relative truth, it may even be a temporary spiritual truth. It may help you grow and make the next step on your spiritual path, but it is not the absolute Truth. Don’t make it into an idol. Don’t make revelation into an idol. It will come back to bite you sooner or later.
This is not to say that what is revealed to you, what helps you grow, what you find as true for yourself at the moment is somehow less important or less valuable. No way! Every step along the staircase has its purpose, and its purpose is to lift you up to the next step. But you can never advance, you cannot keep climbing up the stairs while you are forever faithful to one random stair you fell in love with. The best way to show your gratitude is to use it to get to the next one. God wants you to grow. The more you grow, the more he can use you.
There is this notion of indebtedness that finds its way into our minds from very early on. Probably it stems from the frustration we felt coming from our parents in early childhood. Maybe we feel we’ve inconvenienced them by having to raise us. Or perhaps you’re feeling indebted to your community church because they welcomed you in when you needed it.
I’m not advocating that you dishonour your benefactors, of whatever nature they may be or in whatever form they may come, but recognise that what is not serving you, is ultimately not serving them. We dislike change because it puts us in an uncomfortable situation and we like things to be known and predictable. But if any change for the better is to occur, it must come from what you don’t know and can’t predict. If you did and could, then you would have already been different, you would have already been this better you. Get it?
People usually think of life as a journey. However, a journey has an end. And the end is always death; non-being. I would propose that you start thinking of life as a walk. When you take a walk, you don’t plan on getting somewhere, you don’t have a destination per se. The point of the walk is to take a walk. Now, for those of you who are motorcyclists or have, at any point in your life, owned a motorcycle, you know very well that one rides not merely for getting somewhere fast, but one rides a motorcycle for the joy of riding. When you approach your walk or your motorcycle ride like this, sometimes you may not even know where you’re heading. You don’t know where you’re going to end up. You just take this road, and then you feel like taking a left, then a right, then another left, and so on… and sometimes you stumble upon some wonderful places in your city of birth, which you thought could never again surprise you.
When you walk like this, you are open, you are aware of what’s around you, you are hearing and not listening, you are seeing and not looking. That’s when God can speak to you. Cause you never know where this voice is going to come from. And even if you hear it, if you’re not up to changing course, then what good does it do you?
Now look, I’m not advocating that you should have no direction, no goal, no aim, no purpose. I’m not advising you to not carry a map around and get lost in chaos. This is a journey in itself. Don’t fool yourself. I’m just advising that you don’t hold on too tightly to your direction, goal, aim, purpose, map, compass… you get the point. Stay awake, keep your eyes open, your ears unobstructed and keep moving.
