Some Truths are Easy to Discover; The Point is…
What is The Highest Virtue One Can Exercise?
If Galileo Galilei lived today, I think he would change his sentence as follows:
“Some truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to express and implement them.”
— Galileo Galilei, ~2024 !
Indeed, we live in an era where we can find any knowledge we want via the Internet.
So, today, as we all agree, it isn’t difficult for us to discover the information we seek. Even without struggling to seek it, at any time, someone can bring us crucial information or show us where it is.
But suppose we have the truth that will facilitate our lives, enhance our physical and psychological health, or make us understand what is going on in the world…
Could we say that we value the truth as much as it deserves?
Unfortunately, the answer to this question is akin to the following quote:
“Once men died for truth, but now truth dies at the hands of men.”
— Manly P. Hall
It has always made me happy to read the words of wise people, no matter from which country or religion they are, just when I need some light or affirmation that I’m doing the right thing in my life.
It has always given me the feeling that I’m guided and loved…
And sometimes, I enjoy them when I can make these wise men or women talk to each other via their sayings.
Put differently, had Einstein heard Manly P. Hall’s remarks, he would have agreed and responded by nodding:
“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”
— Albert Einstein
Imagine them talking about this topic while sipping their coffee... I suppose these words would have been the words that they said to each other.
To make this world a better place I’ve been implementing the teachings of Spiritualism for a very long time, which I learned from the books of Ergün Arıkdal, one of the pioneer spiritists in my country.
In other words, I’ve been trying to apply these three essential rules that he mentioned in his books often:
Know yourself!
Know your Lord!
Evolve!
Like these, Ergün Arıkdal has a lot of striking sentences in his books, but the ones that put me on a journey, which I realized later was indeed my self-discovery journey, have been the following:
“If one wants to live for evolution, one must live to serve the evolution of others.
By serving the evolution of others, you already accelerate your own evolution.
A lot of events you have encountered during that service, a lot of troubles, adaptation exercises, entering and exiting from one common area to another, that is, staying in a wide variety of adaptation procedures, literally make you elastic and flexible.
It allows you to gain a high level of willpower and adaptability that allows you to adapt to anything.
All your talents are revealed.
It is impossible for such a being not to develop or not to be an advanced being.
Nothing like this has been observed yet.”
— Ergün Arıkdal
If we could go back twenty-four years in the past, I would have shared these words you have read from Manly P. Hall, Albert Einstein, and Ergün Arıkdal above as excerpts that I had recently come upon and which enriched my understanding.
But now, I am writing this article as someone who has been putting these words into practice for twenty-four years to the best of my ability.
While implementing the teachings of Spiritualism, I have encountered many other words from wise people like those above that affirm that I am on the right path and encourage me.
The words of Lao Tzu are also among them.
Manly P. Hall has already emphasized the importance of sharing the truth above.
Now, imagine that these two wise men, Manly P. Hall and Lao Tzu, encountered each other.
Would you like to know what Lao Tzu would have said to us and Manly P. Hall?
Here it is:
“The highest virtue one can exercise is to accept the responsibility of discovering and transmitting the whole truth.
Some help others in order to receive blessings and admiration. This is simply meaningless.
Some cultivate themselves in part to serve others and in part to serve their own pride. They will understand, at best, half of the truth.
But those who improve themselves for the sake of the world — to these, the whole truth of the universe will be revealed.
So seek this whole truth, practice it in your daily life, and humbly share it with others. You will enter the realm of the divine.”
— Lao Tzu
Excerpt from the book “Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu” by Brian Browne Walker
I don’t know if Atatürk had encountered the sayings of Lao Tzu or Manly P. Hall in one of the books he had read, but he advised us the following on this subject:
We must always be men and women who look for the truth and dare to express it when we find it, or when we believe we have found it.
— Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK
Neither implementation without expressing the truth nor expressing the truth without implementation has a meaning. A good and meaningful life requires both.
Suppose we have learned that there is knowledge that unites humanity, the details of which I shared here.
Do you think that it is easy to express it?
Sometimes, expressing the truth is not so easy.
When we consider the sufferings or challenges faced by prophets, great intellectuals, or scientists, we can see that others who opposed them went so far as to label these intelligent and hardworking people as insane, magicians, or possessed by the devil.
Of course, by ‘truth,’ here I mean the truth that disrupts the comfort of those who refuse to evolve.
It is also not different now… Nothing has changed…
We should admit that oppositions, underestimations, and being labeled by others are unavoidable!
Only those who have lived and experienced it can truly understand this fact.
And, thanks to God, I’ve also experienced them all.
Let me give you one example of what I’ve experienced.
Once, I recommended Bedri Ruhselman’s compiled book “The Divine Order and The Universe” to a religious person whom I saw only once and did not see afterward. He did not like what I told him about the book, and he told me that there was a devil inside me!… I could not find anything to say to him… I was shocked and so angry… I immediately left the place where he was...
I really wonder what you would experience if you recommended this book to people in your environment. It is just a book, but not an ordinary book…
However, I know now that all these things helped me a lot to become the person I am now. I needed all of these experiences for my personal growth, and each such experience led me to investigate the truth and learn more.
Now, if such a thing happens again, in other words, if someone labels me on any subject, I am not getting angry as I did before. I just wish for that person that he or she also walks on a path that brings him or her peace.
In short, we can say that sometimes expressing the truth is as difficult as implementing it.
However, if nobody dares to express the truth or the truth they believe they have found, how can humanity evolve?!
How can the world become a better place?!…
By the way, from the experience I’ve mentioned above, I hope that it was not understood that all religious people are behaving in this way. I have friends who are religious and open to new opinions, or at least open to reading a book such as the one that I’ve mentioned above. I appreciate them all… On the other hand, I also know some people who are not religious and are not open to new opinions.
The Quran wants us, the people, to always research, think, and contemplate, as can be seen in the following verse.
“How little you research and contemplate!” / Al-Haqqah-42
And it frequently asks the following question:
“Are you still not going to use your mind?” /Al-Baqarah-44
Unfortunately, whether religious or not, people usually choose the easiest path, and they judge or put labels on others when they hear something new. Because if they do not judge, there is a possibility that they have to change, and it is not easy for some people... I can understand them…
Well, besides these, do you want to know what I’ve learned throughout the years as I implemented and expressed the truth that I have found or believed I’ve found as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk asked us to do?
- Perseverance is crucial; you should close your ears to the critics and continue on the path you believe is true.
- Along your journey, if you are on the right path, you will either meet people who support you and walk beside you or encounter the words of wise men like Lao Tzu, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which encourage you to keep going.
- Never think you will be alone. You will always be supported, but only if you don’t give up!
Now I’m not only expressing what I feel needs to be said in appropriate places, but I’m also changing myself, i.e., I’m evolving...
Lastly, to make the world a better place, may the following words of Atatürk always shed light not only on my path but on your path as well.
Those who are interested in quotes from Dr. Bedri Ruhselman may refer to this list of articles.
Those who are interested in more quotes from Ergün Arıkdal may refer to this list of articles.
You may find this list of articles also interesting.
With Love🙏🏻
This story is participating in the writing contest “Write For A Better World” by Wake. Write. Win.
