It is fashionable at the moment to say that there is no such thing as absolute truth. There is, the argument goes, only relative truth—which is to say, “truth” depends on how you look at it.
And no two people are alike. Different people perceive the world differently. There is my perception of truth, your perception of truth, and so on.
Even if there is an abolute truth, the argument goes, no-one can ever understand and appreciate it anyway. It is out of our reach. To see the abolute truth one would have to be omniscient, and no-one is omniscient. We are all limited beings with limited awareness and limited means of perception. Hence, anyone claiming to know and teach so-called absolute truth must be either deluded or a con artist.
I certainly used to agree with every bit of this school of thought. I was a relativist through and through.
What floored me completely was my first encounter with absolute truth.
At the age of 30 I experienced a timeless moment in which I was just being, and I was consciously being, with the awareness of being me. And I was also aware that who I am, this being I call “me”, is integral to the very fabric of reality. “I” am not just an idea in my mind. Ultimately, I am. I am here. And I cannot not be here because “here” and “I” are not two separate things but are one.
Beyond any kind of relative perception, this was the rock-solid absolute truth. Eternal. Exquisite. Breathtakingly beautiful. Completely fulfilling.
As a result of that experience (and others I have had since), I realised that some of my most cherished beliefs were flawed. In particular, I got that there is a big difference between who I am, in absolute terms, and how I am relative to others. In other words, there is a difference between my essence and my personality. Whenever I get too hung up on my personality quirks and flaws, I just remind myself that this is all in the realm of the relative – the absolute truth of who I am is unaffected by any of it.
For anyone who would like a similar encounter with the absolute truth of who they are, I whole-heartedly recommend taking a three-day Enlightenment Intensive. This is what worked for me, and it has worked for many other people I know.
I was talking to my spiritual advisor about this today. It is just hard to take a step back and notice your thinking is finite compared to the infinite.