What is true and what is false is not the key to understanding

If you feel this is posted in the wrong forum then please move to an appropriate one

It is late evening - the busy streets are quiet - I love the silence and space to think.
I have been a member here at ATS just a short while and been involved in many debates.
It is such a learning curve for me. Not really about subject matter but more about people.
Some things I have found uplifting and some I admit have brought out the worst in me.
My big question to myself and others is just how does one discern what is true and what is false.
I find myself looking inward for answers that can satisfy a need I feel for truth.
Why do I want truth - well they say the truth will set you free but free to do what.
Am I merely a spectator an observor perhaps this is often the case.
There is a point to all this, it is bubbling up inside me wanting to find the right words to express what I am feeling.
It may appear I am being too open and vulnerable but I asure you I am far from vulnerable.
Let me explain a very simple premise for discerning truth - Trust no one and certainly do not trust me.
The point is that it is not important to know what is true or what is false.
It is important however to understand why a person does, acts and say what they do.
Everyone wears masks - without exception this is so if we look honestly at our own thoughts and actions.
This does not mean a person is bad or wrong.
Where do we get our ideas from - how can we trust the information we are given is true.
So many mis lead others by intent or out of pre conditioning.
We are so often led by others through fears and insecurity or hope and just plain wanting something good to be true.
So who can we turn to if not our true self our higher intelligence.
Now to some the idea that we have a higher intelligence is a fantasy but that is ok if you think so.
My advice for you to take or leave is - Listen to what your thoughts are telling you - Your true voice, the voice that has been drowned out by the noise of the world and all its dazzling distractions.
I repeat:-

The point is that it is not important to know what is true or what is false.
It is important however to understand why a person does, acts and say what they do.

Apologies if I ramble now I leave the floor open to you

reply to post by artistpoet


Cool avatar OP.

You hit a good point: why people say or do what they say or do versus what is said or done.

I am no expert in human nature or sociology but I do know from experience one needs to consider both the "what" and "why" to get to the bottom of things. Either one by itself leaves you scratching your head with half an answer. That brings us to the third part: influencing. If you want to get anything achieved with human beings, an investment must be made to successfully distill a response which achieves the goal yet soothes and fulfills everyones various what and whys. People who do this successfully, are in high demand as they are rare.

reply to post by artistpoet


Very good thread, some people get so into finding the truth they loose the reason why they were doing so in the first place.
Also, may i add that sometimes people are searching without meaning. We give meaning to what we find to applying it to ourselves and the world around us.
People argue about opposing views and thats fine. but instead of fighting about different views why not work together to find what is most constructive and enables us to grow?
Finding the 'right' answer is only one step.
You can also learn from the 'wrong' answers too.
It all depends how you apply what you find.

reply to post by artistpoet


Excellent way of words artistpoet
"My big question to myself and others is just how does one discern what is true and what is false."

I had the EXACT SAME idea come to me very recently on another message board. I started a thread called "How do you validate your sources?" It is the same concept really. We are on the same wavelength.

reply to post by artistpoet


Excellent post Poet. I myself came to ATS to find the "truth" and to find answers to many things that have been bothering me. I always seemed to look outside the box and look at the world and say, hey whats really going on? Whether its a conspiracy I've herd or just something utterly senseless that might annoy me. As if these answers would some how make me FEEL like or be better person. However, while pursuing these so-called answers I was beginning to feel as if i were going insane. With each so-called answer, multiple questions would arise and so the cycle continued. Until I really started focusing on a gift that has been with us since the very beginning, the gift of meditation and its path toward higher consciousnesses. With a higher state of consciousness or at least trying to connect with your higher self, you will notice that any fear or worry that you have will start to subside and then with enough hard work you can overcome anything that your lower self once feared.

You have to firstly question everything that you know for logic. And stop the habit of assuming things that you are unsure of. Things that will seem true to you will have to fit into your own knowledge so it is very important to go through all your present beliefs. It is like cleaning up your own room for unwanted stuff.

Gifts to yourself is what i call objective understanding of subject matter. I have utmost respect of the philosophical objective portrayal of your reasoning. If socrates was here he'd be proud of the way the thred was started. Thank you and hope that more peole would and could think objectively with reason. Just remember that we as a society are not taught to think and reason freely, just to think we live freely......