“That which is false troubles the heart, but the truth brings joyous tranquility.” ~ Rumi

In the hurry-up world we live in, truth can be a multi-layered concept: My truth, your truth, their truth. And all of these can be truths based on a Merriam-Webster definition of truth: “a statement or idea that is true or is accepted as true.” Our individual experiences create filters through which we perceive ‘reality’ and create our truths. If we say we are busy or successful, these may be truths. These are truths that live on the surface – the waves and swells of calm and stormy seas.

Underneath the crashing waves and surges of the surface there is a more tranquil place, where life continues to be lived without being affected so much by the weather happening ‘out there,’ and where a deeper Truth exists.

To carry on the metaphor, in calm times a glass-bottom boat can give me a glimpse of Truth. It would not be as clear or vivid as it would were I to dive in, but Truth would at least be in view. However, in the “average” day of an “average” American, there is career work to do, and bills to pay, and family to raise, and housework to do, and commitments to meet, and conflicts to experience, and feelings to work through, and so on, and so on . . . This is all rough-seas stuff and blocks us from the tranquility of Truth that is present at all times. And if we are constantly struggling to maneuver through the difficulties of our day-to-day lives (i.e., keeping our boats from capsizing), how can we see into the calm tranquility of that stillness?

Sitting in stillness (whether you call it mediation or something else) is becoming a necessity in our modern day in order to have some kind of momentary contact with the stillness that is the parallel of our immense oceans. Our brains are so used to being in overdrive that it may take a lot of practice to be able to, for example, focus on our breath for even four minutes, but the benefits of peace of mind and improved physiological health are rich reward worthy of the efforts. It is an aspect of self-discovery that allows us to see a larger Truth – who we are and how we might fit in the world.