TRUTH ABOUT TRUTH

A posting on Facebook reads: "Surround yourself with people who are searching for truth.  Run from people who have found it!"  The source of the quote is not stated.

It's a catchy statement, but the word "truth" is used as though there were only one truth.  There are, in fact, many truths, all of which fall into two categories, relative truth and ultimate truth.

Relative truth applies to the relative world. The relative world is illusory, which means that it is transient, in flux, ever-changing.  A relative truth is, for example, "what goes up must come down," the law of gravity.  This is only sort of true, however, because the higher you get up in the atmosphere, the longer it takes for something that has gone up to come down again, and eventually, if you go high enough, what goes up does not come down at all.

Ultimate truth, by contrast, applies to the ultimate world, the spiritual world, which is not transient, is not in flux, and is not ever-changing.  An ultimate truth is the law of karma, for instance, which is "as ye sow, so shall ye reap," cause and effect.  Another ultimate truth is what is called awakening, which is found in all religions and is the basis for the faith held by people everywhere.  But the ultimate ultimate truth, of course, is the divine, which may be called God, Allah, Yahweh, Brahman, or what you will, which is eternal, steadfast, and abiding.

Therefore the statement "Surround yourself with people who are searching for truth.  Run from people who have found it!", while it has an nice ring to it, makes a nice slogan, does not really mean anything especially to all those around the world who have "found it."