Spiritual Truth
Personal reflections
What is spiritual truth? Most people think this form of truth matches their own values and thoughts.
However, different people have different ideas about what that means.
For instance, some Christians May believe that God the Father begat Jesus as His son, while others believe the Holy Spirit brought about his miraculous virgin birth. And some of them, though not all, believe that he actually is God as part of the Trinity.
But followers of Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, and people of many other religious backgrounds do not have the same understanding.
Can the dictionary definition help us? Merriam Webster gives quite a long definition of “truth”. Perhaps the most useful part of their definition for our discussion follows: “a transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality”. Breaking that definition down, I understand it to mean that, though universal and significant, spiritual truth goes beyond human ability to understand. We simply do not have the capability to comprehend it. We can believe in it and study the scriptures to increase our knowledge of it but we can never fully understand it while we exist in our earthly life.
I am, of course, writing of the Divine, the One I call God.
[6:103] No visions can encompass Him, but He encompasses all visions. He is the Compassionate, the Cognizant. (The Quran)
[59:22–25] He is the One GOD; there is no other god besides Him.
Knower of all secrets and declarations. He is the Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
He is the One GOD; there is no other God besides Him. The King, the Most Sacred, the Peace, the Most Faithful, the Supreme, the Almighty, the Most Powerful, the Most Dignified. GOD be glorified; far above having partners.
He is the One GOD; the Creator, the Initiator, the Designer. To Him belong the most beautiful names. Glorifying Him is everything in the heavens and the earth. He is the Almighty, Most Wise. (The Quran)
Others, including Indigenous Americans recognized the greatness and omnipresence of God. For example, Black Elk held the position of medicine or holy man among his tribe. I found the following attributed to him:
“The Great Spirit is everywhere; he hears whatever is in our minds and our hearts, and it is not necessary to speak to Him in a loud voice.” (Black Elk of the Lakota tribe)
The Bible also speaks of God’s greatness:
Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is One God!
Therefore you shall adore the Lord your God
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength. [Deuteronomy 6:4–5, Mark 12:29–30]
As do the Hindu Vedas:
Let us meditate on God, His glorious attributes,
who is the basis of everything in this universe as its Creator,
who is fit to be worshiped as Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient
and self existent conscious being,
who removes all ignorance and impurities from the mind
and purifies and sharpens our intellect.
(Gayatri Mantra, Yajur Veda)
We find similar passages in the scriptures and traditions of a great many faiths. Thus, we see that no one group owns exclusive rights to the essential spiritual truth.
