One day a young man decided to undertake a quest involving a trip to a distant destination.
He was sure the journey would be an exciting one and didn’t want to miss the many wondrous sights, delightful people and delicious experiences. He also didn’t want to get lost and wanted to avoid the many perils, dead ends and dangerous, desolate areas.
After a few tentative steps he realised this particular trip demanded careful consideration, and decided to seek advice.
He guessed he was not the first to take this journey and was sure he could find plenty of people to advise him about the best route, provide maps and describe what would greet him at the journey’s end.
The Books Of Spiritual Wisdom
The first person he met held an ancient book, written many years ago. It contained the words and deeds of wise men and experts on this journey. Whilst it was not a map, it was full of advice and suggestions on how to proceed and how to treat the people he would meet. The book holder, though he had not taken the trip himself, was very passionate and convinced the book contained the Truth and The Only Way to reach the destination.
He went to a second person who waved an old book in his face. The young man thought it looked the same as the previous book but was assured it was very different and only this one contained the Truth. The book waver was reluctant to open the pages but more than willing to quote selected pieces. Again there was no map and plenty of sound advice – though it did seem similar to the first book. The young man was left with a warning that any other claims to The Only Way were evil and dangerous and should be avoided.
Feeling a little confused, the young man continued on his way to search for more advice.
He was approached by someone who also had a book, though the young man had to take it on trust because the book was hidden. It was somewhat newer than the others and apparently revealed The Only Way to the destination and, because the Truth in this book was sacred and special, it was kept secret. For a modest payment the wisdom in the writings could be revealed.
The young man felt even more confused and decided to carry on his way.
The Books of Material Wisdom
Most people he met refused to talk about the journey at all.
He sensed they would have liked to, but for some reason were very scared of travelling, or maybe it was the mysterious destination that scared them. The Only Way to engage them in conversation was to talk about safe topics and not mention the journey at all. The weather, state of the world, the Truth in their magazines and TV schedules were all topics they got excited about. The young man couldn’t shake the idea that these people were quite content but curiousity and adventure was missing for them. He was disappointed they were unable to help him on his quest.
The next person who was willing to talk to him about serious matters showed him the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal and confided that here was The Only Way. At first glance they appeared to contain nothing more than numbers but the young man was assured they carried great meaning to those who could decipher them. The man confided in him the Truth was that the destination is an illusion, a myth concocted by the believers in the Books Of Spiritual Wisdom. Several of his colleagues had set off and never returned. Surely if this place existed he would have heard something from them. His advice was to forget the trip, study the numbers and enjoy great wealth.
The young man left the man to his columns of numbers and went on his way.
The Books Of Scientific Wisdom
The final person he met had a map and a comphrehensive, though incomplete, guide to the journey. He was presented with complex diagrams, formulae, theories and piles of paper all titled ‘Evidence’. The young man stayed a long time here and asked many questions and received many answers, though some remained unanswered. The young man was assured that with more evidence the Truth of all things would be discovered. The Only Way was simply a matter of time and finding the right hypotheses to explain the evidence. This man was highly sceptical that the destination existed as none of his papers or measurements contained any proof. He asked the young man to return with this proof upon completing his quest – but only something tangible and measurable would do. The young man left on his way much impressed by the logic but sad that there appeared little purpose or meaning in what he had heard.
The Truth and The Only Way
The young man continued on his way, pondering the words he had received from everyone he had met. In each meeting he had found some advice and suggestions that seemed to him very wise and helpful and he wondered why they could not find common ground in their search for the Truth. Was The Only Way really to disagree and fight?
Though each claimed they knew the Truth and The Only Way, it was clear to the young man that none of them had all the answers.
It was also clear to him The Only Way to the Truth was to continue on His Way and discover for himself.
This is absolutely beautiful. I am a firm believer that the only way to the Truth is to go on My Way and it will be there. Thank you for sharing this.
Hi Jill and thanks for the kind words. The writing style was something of a departure for me .. writing my own ‘fable’ … so it’s good to get this feedback.
great story. I love the ending…a simple profound truth. I believe that, ultimately, there is no truth we can trust more than those we discover ourselves.
I also think there are plenty of wise people around to learn from and that’s fine, provided we never lose sight that life is our journey and no-one else’s. I find it comforting to remind myself that the destination is the same for all of us.
My initial thought when I saw the title in Google Reader was, “But there is no one & only truth or way.”
Jumping to the page, I was glad to see we both are on the same page with that thought.
We often are on the same page with how we see the world
The truth has been with us always. It is revealed every time we see beyond the perception of our mind.
Hi Walter. I’m sometimes amazed by the words coming out of my mouth … I listen to them, think how wise I sound and then immediately wonder where they came from. I have a belief we can all access the universal wisdom if we allow it.
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Wonderful, wonderful post…without exploring and discovering for ourselves, we can never understand what is truth.
Thanks Earl … in fact I wonder if we can ever understand truth from the perspective of this life of ours. I hope I can get a little closer, step by step.
Ian, hello from Japan, and a fresh snowfall here in the mountains. Perhaps we will never understand truth from our life’s perspective. Is truth a word or a concept or a search? My way, your way, the way – it is a journey, and a mythic one at that. Maybe the truth of my way will be the all truth of all ways. Or maybe not. What I do know is that the journey matters, and that I must undertake it. From the foot of Mount Fuji, thank you for presenting your fable, and for your thoughtful blog.
Thanks for the visit .. and from somewhere that’s on my list of ‘places to visit before I die’. I’m in total agreement that the journey matters … and I think the destination does too, if only as an end point to this journey and as a starting point for the next one.
Very aspiring and something that I have struggled with myself. As a young’n I always loved science, rationality, and logic, but it didn’t give me the satisfaction I was looking for. Only when I began to integrate it with spiritual wisdom did I find happiness. Now…I am working on my material wisdom and trying to get myself settled financially.
Sounds to me like you’ve got it all coming together! Congratulations!
Great story, lots of lessons in the little story.
Thanks!
Maybe the Truth is in the center of a big circle and at any given point, someone will point in a direction and say… there it is, my Way is the Right Way and he will be correct for from his place the shortest distance to the Truth might be his Way. That is if he is truly pointing to the Truth.
Now if you travel on the circumference, you might find someone else pointing to the center and saying My Way is the Right Way. And he will be right…
The closer you get to the center, the more similar the speakers will be and I believe that once you reach the center, all of them will say the same thing. Love!
Or as Louis Armstrong put it:
And all I’m saying is
See what a wonderful world
It would be if only we’d give it a chance
Love baby, love
That’s the secret, Yeah
If lots more of us loved each other
We solve lots more problems
And then this world would be better
Hi Peter. I like that way of seeing the truth! Or as I like to think of it “Your point of view depends on your point of viewing”
And actually I think it is as simple as that .. at the centre is love .. and outside the centre are all the thinsg that are not love ..
i am sure the young man will find his answers if he kept searching, he just must make sure that he read all the books
He’s reading them all … slowly