reliance on others

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If you assert it, does that make it true?

If you deny it, does that make it false?

As much as anything, I think that assertions of truth and falsehood relate to the willingness to rely on others. And that reliance is probably much more important than any truth or falsehood, much more worthy of investigation as regards anyone's honest peace and clarity.

OK, we are social creatures and crave the comforts of security, some of which are found among our fellow men and women. Agreement brings warmth, nourishment, safety much of the time. Like herds in the wild, we huddle together where the storm rages. We are warmed and thankful.

But truth and falsehood are limited and limiting and the strictures of agreement can cloy and nag and constrain. The agreements are agreeable right up until the moment when they are not -- right up until the moment where the heart longs to soar in some open, limitless sky. We may wax glib and refer to some as "non-conformists," but the truth is probably more like this: We are all non-conformists, through and through and our own non-conformity can scare the shit out of us, threatening as it does to cut us off from the warmth and safety of the truths and falsehoods we cling to. We may long to be "free" but fear the limitlessness of the "freedom" we claim to aspire to.

The only way I know to be both warmed and free is to investigate our reliance on others -- other people, other views, other truths, other falsehoods. Disavowing our reliance on others is just more of the same -- relying on those we may hope to disavow. And we get stuck -- seeking out reliable truths and falsehoods just as we have in the past. Same shit, different day.

Gently but firmly, there needs to be reflection on the one seeking security and the one seeking freedom. Are they the same or different? Naturally there will be those who agree, whether the answer is "the same" or "different." But this is not enough. It's more of the same truth and falsehood game.

Gently, but firmly ... gently but firmly ... gently but firmly ... reflect.

Until the bubble bursts.
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