Clare, this piece lingers, an afterimage that won’t fade. The arc you trace, from truth as an unshakable north star to something more like alignment, feels inevitable, though we rarely recognize it until we’re already there.
You write, “I ultimately found life without any spiritual solace unendurable, indeed very nearly self-destructive.” That line cuts deep because it names something we often resist admitting: the pursuit of truth alone can be brittle, a hunger that never ends. We seek truth as if it’s a fixed point, an artifact waiting to be unearthed. But in reality, it’s a tension, something lived rather than possessed.
That’s why Neti Neti resonates. It doesn’t offer a new certainty but strips away the false without rushing to replace it. Not surrender, but alignment. A recognition that what we call truth is often scaffolding, a construct we cling to because we fear the unknown. You describe it well, that shift from knowing to feeling truth, from intellect to embodiment, from the head to the toes.
And that is the quiet revolution, isn’t it? Not the desperate pursuit of something external but the realization that the deeper we go, the more truth and alignment become the same thing. That we are not meant to exist in perpetual fragmentation. That there is, perhaps, a space between knowing and being, and the only way across is to stop clutching at certainty and start moving toward something greater.
You’ve written something that won’t let people go easily. And whether they realize it or not, they are already leaning into the pull.
I’m so glad I found you through Mika’s Find Your Tribe! I love this essay.
In my late 20’s I was in a quest for Truth. Capital T. A minister stopped me in my tracks when I told him that I wanted to know and teach Truth.
His simple question? What Truth?
That was when I started dismantling my beliefs and turning them over.
I could not let go of one belief though. The belief that God exists.
My world was too dark and pointless without God.
God and I have had disagreements since. I flat out was kissed for a few years. But I always knew that It was around.
I think today we know too much. Our intellect is taking over and rationalizing the world. We are losing the mystery of life. We think we must do everything ourselves because we no longer believe in a supportive force.
And, as you shared, we are having a tough time finding existential meaning when we wipe out the Divine.
What I want now is not Truth, nor is it dogma. I have any community with those who are walking a life with the Divine.
Clare, this piece lingers, an afterimage that won’t fade. The arc you trace, from truth as an unshakable north star to something more like alignment, feels inevitable, though we rarely recognize it until we’re already there.
You write, “I ultimately found life without any spiritual solace unendurable, indeed very nearly self-destructive.” That line cuts deep because it names something we often resist admitting: the pursuit of truth alone can be brittle, a hunger that never ends. We seek truth as if it’s a fixed point, an artifact waiting to be unearthed. But in reality, it’s a tension, something lived rather than possessed.
That’s why Neti Neti resonates. It doesn’t offer a new certainty but strips away the false without rushing to replace it. Not surrender, but alignment. A recognition that what we call truth is often scaffolding, a construct we cling to because we fear the unknown. You describe it well, that shift from knowing to feeling truth, from intellect to embodiment, from the head to the toes.
And that is the quiet revolution, isn’t it? Not the desperate pursuit of something external but the realization that the deeper we go, the more truth and alignment become the same thing. That we are not meant to exist in perpetual fragmentation. That there is, perhaps, a space between knowing and being, and the only way across is to stop clutching at certainty and start moving toward something greater.
You’ve written something that won’t let people go easily. And whether they realize it or not, they are already leaning into the pull.
I’m so glad I found you through Mika’s Find Your Tribe! I love this essay.
In my late 20’s I was in a quest for Truth. Capital T. A minister stopped me in my tracks when I told him that I wanted to know and teach Truth.
His simple question? What Truth?
That was when I started dismantling my beliefs and turning them over.
I could not let go of one belief though. The belief that God exists.
My world was too dark and pointless without God.
God and I have had disagreements since. I flat out was kissed for a few years. But I always knew that It was around.
I think today we know too much. Our intellect is taking over and rationalizing the world. We are losing the mystery of life. We think we must do everything ourselves because we no longer believe in a supportive force.
And, as you shared, we are having a tough time finding existential meaning when we wipe out the Divine.
What I want now is not Truth, nor is it dogma. I have any community with those who are walking a life with the Divine.
Great read! And I think it’s about that time, so congrats!!🎉
May you continue to noodle on truth and interest for us all to benefit. 😊
Thank you!