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How to Know Truth

Every human being has a built-in ability to know truth. You do not need an outer authority to tell you what is true. You need to go within and contact a higher part of your being.

By Kim Michaels

There are reasons why so many people take the outer approach to religion and refuse to change that approach. One reason is that the outer approach is an easy approach. If you allow a religious organization or authority figure to tell you what to believe, you don't really have to think for yourself. When you let someone else tell you what is true, you don't have to make personal decisions about what is true. This is not only easier; it can also seem a lot safer.

When you take the inner approach to spirituality, you cannot allow someone else to tell you what to believe. You have to think for yourself, and you have to decide what is true. At first, this can seem confusing and even unsafe. After all, how can you know what is really true?

In reality, the task is not as difficult or scary as it might seem. You already have the ability to know truth. This is an ability that is built into your being. It is a gift from God, and you cannot lose it completely. As every ability, it can atrophy from lack of use, but by making an effort, you can develop it to full capacity. The ability to know truth is commonly known as intuition. The teachings on this website might help you realize that intuition is far more than most people expect.

How do you decide what is true?
To begin overcoming your fear of deciding what is true, consider how you came to accept your current beliefs? No one can force you to accept an idea; you must make a decision before accepting any idea. You might not be consciously aware of making such a decision, but the decision was made nonetheless.

Therefore, before accepting your current beliefs, you made a decision. You might have been brought up in a culture that conditioned you to accept a particular religious doctrine as true and infallible. Yet, somewhere in your past you had to make a decision to accept that claim, and you must continually make decisions to uphold your acceptance of that claim.

You will find many religious people who will reject this idea. They claim that they follow the only true doctrine there is. This is not a matter of opinion or a personal decision; it is simply the only truth. If you think about this more closely, you will realize that there is no absolute and undeniable proof that a certain doctrine is true. Even a spiritual leader such as Jesus did not convert everyone, and the reason is that people have free will and that they make decisions based on their current level of consciousness.

Therefore, the acceptance of a certain doctrine is not a matter of an undeniable proof, it is a matter of a personal decision. That decision is inevitably affected by your current understanding (people often cling to what is familiar and makes them feel comfortable) and your current level of consciousness.

To grow or not to grow
If you take the outer approach, you accept a certain doctrine and declare it infallible. It follows that you will never come to accept any understanding that is beyond the doctrine. Therefore, you could never be part of a spiritual renewal. Imagine that everyone in ancient Israel had stuck to orthodox Jewish doctrines. The Jewish authorities rejected Jesus, so any orthodox Jew should have done the same. Consequently, Jesus would never have attracted any followers and Christianity would have died with him.

When you take the inner approach, you accept the fact that your current beliefs are not final, complete or infallible. You made a decision to accept your current beliefs, and that decision was based on your current understanding and level of consciousness. You also recognize that you are following a systematic path that leads you towards a deeper understanding and a higher level of consciousness. As you move forward on that path, it is only natural that you will receive a higher understanding, and this might cause you to go beyond your current beliefs.

The simple fact is that you are constantly making decisions about what you think is true, even if it is a decision not to question your existing beliefs. This is what is illustrated in Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Prince Hamlet was facing a difficult situation and did not want to take action. Yet, by not acting he brought about his own death. Therefore, not making a decision is still making a decision.

The essential point is that you cannot avoid making decisions, so you might as well make the best of it and learn how to make constructive decisions. You might fear making decisions about what is true, but all fear is a fear of the unknown. Once you understand what influences your decisions, you can quickly learn to consciously make the best possible decisions.

Fear and love
What causes you to accept a certain idea? There are two forces that influence your decisions about what is true, namely fear and love. When you take the outer approach, your decisions are based on fear. You are afraid that you cannot know truth on your own, so you allow an outer authority to tell you what to believe. You are afraid of making a mistake, so you want someone else to decide for you, but that is still making a decision.

When your decisions are based on fear, you are reluctant to open your mind to any ideas that seem to go beyond your existing belief system. Therefore, you tend to cling to your existing beliefs as if it was a matter of life and death. How can you escape the clutches of fear?

When you bring light into a room, the darkness disappears. When you bring love into your mind, the fear disappears. You might have heard the expression that "perfect love casts out all fear," but where can this perfect love come from? What if it comes from a higher part of your own being?

A central theme on this website is that your mind, or being, has several levels, or layers. Some psychologists embrace this idea and talk about a lower mind that is the seat of the negative aspects of human nature, such as fear, and a higher mind that is the seat of the positive qualities, such as love. What if you have a higher part of your own being which is capable of telling you what is true?

If you were brought up in a traditional religious culture, this idea might be new to you, but was it new to the religious leader who inspired your culture?

Let the higher mind be in you
Is it possible that some of the religious leaders of the past were very familiar with the concept of a higher, more spiritual part of our beings? As an example, let us take a look at Jesus.

Jesus said, "He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also." Saint Paul admonished people to "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Have you ever considered what these statements truly mean?

How could you possibly do the works of Jesus? How can you let Jesus' mind be in you? Incidentally, what kind of mind was Paul talking about?

What if a part of Jesus' mission (not his entire mission, but part of it) was to demonstrate a path that all people have the potential to follow? This path leads to a higher state of consciousness in which you have moved out of fear and embraced a higher spiritual understanding based on love. You have literally allowed a higher mind to be in you, as that higher mind was in Jesus.

If you look at the mission of Jesus, you might realize that he delivered a supreme example of a person who is applying the inner approach to spirituality. He did not claim to have outer authority, such as the scribes and the temple priests. Instead, he claimed that he received his teachings from a source inside himself.

In fact, Jesus was constantly opposed by those who took the outer approach to religion. They refused to let go of their existing beliefs, and therefore they rejected the higher understanding offered by Jesus. Would you reject a higher understanding coming from inside yourself? Why not open your heart and let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus? What do you have to lose but your fears? What do you have to gain but perfect love?

If you did not grow up in a Christian culture, do not despair. This website will demonstrate that virtually every religion contained teachings about the inner approach to religion and the possibility to attain a higher state of consciousness.

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Copyright © 2008 by Kim Michaels