The 5th Way Team Discusses Acceptance - Part II by Addison C. Arthur

Addison: Yes, it is much more difficult to do than it is to say. However, if one takes the first steps in the process and as one makes progress with the steps, one will see “forward” movement and that in itself can serve as a wonderful incentive to carry on.

Catharsis: It seems to me that there are too many obstacles and diversions for one to even begin to discover what steps are necessary to make, let alone do them!

Addison: That is where the words of others who have made the necessary steps come in. There are authors and poets who have written sound advice and given clues on this very thing, myself included. Of course words written in ancient texts can be useful as well. However, one still has to wade through sometimes archaic, misinterpreted, misperceived, misunderstood, misplaced, and inaccurate words. That is why one needs to develop what Truth feels like to oneself. It may take a while to filter out things to get to this feeling of Truth, such as one’s own ego. When you learn what Truth feels like to you within your present understanding, it will serve as a good guide to help keep you on track to understanding this Truth in greater depth and detail.

Catharsis: Why can’t I just pull out the encyclopedia to discover this Truth you mention?

Addison: Encyclopedias can be a wonderful time-saving tool for looking up facts. A fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality. In other words, a fact represents something that has actual existence.

Catharsis: Then anyone can look into an encyclopedia, pick a topic, and have the truth about anything that is covered. What a wonderful time-saving tool. However, if everyone can do this then why is there so much confrontation, conflict, argument, and war taking place on Earth?

Addison: That is the trouble with facts. One person’s fact can be another person’s fallacy. Facts are only good as long as they hold true.

Catharsis: I thought you said facts were representative of actual existence! It seems to me that if facts keep on changing then they are not Truth.

Addison: One has to keep in mind that facts change because perceptions of the objective reality they represent change for the user perceiving them. Facts in an encyclopedia are a collective agreement on what the latest perception is. In other words, they are acceptable to those in authority describing the facts. However, an encyclopedia in one country may differ in its facts than one in another country. Perhaps there are encyclopedias even in the same country differing on many points of perception.

Catharsis: This sounds way too chaotic. Why can’t we just have one encyclopedia set with the latest facts listed in it?

Addison: Science strives to have a set of facts that are universal about the objective reality that scientists observe and that are repeatable by anyone using the same techniques to observe as well. However, many people choose not to agree with scientific observations and use their own oftentimes nonscientific standards as their guide for what is real or not. These latter people choose to not accept what the scientists say.

Catharsis: These latter people seem to be the same ones that used to call the Earth flat. Why do they still hold onto their beliefs when science shows that their facts no longer hold true?

Addison: Some of these beliefs are forced to change over time because most people recognize that the beliefs can no longer possibly hold true. The more people that no longer accept the previous belief system, the more the belief system is changed to become acceptable to the majority of people. Of course some never change their beliefs regardless of what anyone shows or says on the matter. There are many pockets of entrenched believers doing this.

Catharsis: It seems to me that eventually these pockets of people will die out because most of the people do not accept their ways.

Addison: This is quite possible with many of these groups of people. However, today we see another experience taking place. Science, particularly in the area of physics, actually seems to reversing the trend back to confirming many aspects of reality that many spiritual mystics have realized for millennia. Therefore many previously perceived aspects of reality are now being confirmed and are finding new acceptance among many people.

Catharsis: This is quite interesting. What seems to be the main issue here on whether to accept or not?

Addison: It really comes down to perception. One person’s perception is not necessarily the same as another’s. That is why science is so credible because it is verifiable and repeatable by anyone with the same equipment and techniques. With better equipment and techniques, man is now able to observe much more than one can with just his/her five senses.

Catharsis: Then how did these spiritual mystics see what scientists are now confirming when the mystics did not have any scientific equipment whatsoever?

Addison: These mystics used and still are using what many call their sixth sense – an internal knowing. This can be exhibited through intuition, psi (formerly ESP), out of body experiences, altered states of consciousness, etc.

Catharsis: Therefore we come to what truth feels like to the person perceiving it.

Addison: Exactly. When one goes within through certain techniques, one can perceive many aspects of reality. Unfortunately, science will never be able to confirm with their physical instruments what many perceive without them. And there lies a potential and permanent rift between the two.

Catharsis: Then why don’t the scientists attempt to use the same inner techniques used by the mystics and the mystics use the techniques of the scientists to help confirm what each other sees?

Addison: That would seem to be the most obvious solution. However, as you have many entrenched in their religious dogmas even though many aspects of them have been shown to be unreal, many scientists are just as entrenched in not having anything to do with what they can not perceive with just their five senses. So, many of both sides do not accept the other.

Catharsis: That is a real pity.

About The Author

Addison C. Arthur is a Spiritual Humorist. As such you will often find him combining spiritual insight with witty humor. He often engages his associates in discussions on a variety of topics to help bring a different viewpoint to his readers and listeners. Feel free to stop by the website to read more articles, sign up for a free monthly newsletter, and to listen to a future podcast: http://www.the5thway.com/

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