Wednesday, September 13, 2023
One of the most profound statements that Jesus ever made was that the truth will set you free. There are several things to unpack here. First, what is truth, and second from what does it set you free? The truth is that there is no you in definable terms. There is a separate personality, an identifiable body, and the separate roles that you play, but combined, that is not you. There are thoughts and feelings and other unique attributes, but that too is not you. There are hands, feet, eyes, and a nose, but that can’t be you either. All of those things are in flux and eventually decay. What’s left? You are unknowable, your earthly form is decaying, and who you are cannot be pinned down by a biography, a story, or a symbol. The truth is elusive. The idea of self and other is illusive.
Life is free. You are free. Hold a small animal in your hand and it will wiggle out of it. You can’t contain it, any more than you can contain yourself in words. Define who you are by your externalities, and you’ll disprove it each time you change or your circumstances do a 180.
The truth is, in 20 years you won’t recognize yourself. You are unknowable, undefinable, and mysterious. Now that you know who you are, how can that set you free? You don’t have to pretend to control everything. You are what the entire universe is doing in a space and time you call here and now. You can be free to be who you are, exploring that mysterious, unfolding process of the universe that is playfully discovering what it is doing here and now, through the aperture of your eyes. What rapture to be free to explore the undefinable, the uncontainable, the awesomeness of that presence we all call “I.”