This
is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees
him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in
you. [John 14:17]
First, let’s divest ourselves of this perennial bother that
normally surrounds the word “truth”. If
you say that what you claim is the truth, there will be someone who thinks
otherwise. You may be not so sure
yourself. If any church claims to be the
one true church, the one with the truth, they needn’t expect a flood of
conversions, except perhaps in parts of the USA. “Truth” has become a relative and negotiable
term these days, claims are regarded as suspect and liable to be disproved in
the next issue of The Listener -- and
as you know we even have something called alternative truth, alternative facts…
whatever that is.
…so that, having what Jesus calls here the Spirit of Truth is not
going to make us somehow seem right or infallible. Neither should we feel it does.
Jesus laid down one or two serious markers about truth and falsity,
it seems to me. One of them is the
question… Is it loving? The Samaritan
was loving, even though he was of the wrong religion. When people ask how they know whether Christian
Meditation, contemplative life and prayer, is actually getting them anywhere,
doing anything for me… the response is a question: Are you becoming more loving? Love and truth are inseparable. Moreover, whatever it is being propounded, if
it excludes and alienates it is unlikely to be very true.
Another marker is the question:
Is it practicable? It is not a
matter of how I feel, or what I say I believe.
It is a matter of what I am, and am becoming, and what I do. I am reminded of that marvellous Maori woman,
Eva Rickard, who said we need “less of the hui-hui[1],
and more of the do-ie, do-ie”. So… am
I changing under the work of grace? Am I
finding Self, its image and its needs, to be decreasingly important and
increasingly disposable? Am I finding
myself less afraid of life, death and the future?
A third marker might be humility.
As Benedict and plenty of others have seen, truth and humility are
inseparable. When some demagogue rants
and roars, threatens and promises the earth, feasting all the time on adoring
fans and sycophants, it is time to watch how truth is suffering. Truth usually doesn’t make a noise. The
Spirit of Truth, who is the Spirit of Jesus, quietly occupies our hearts. Our discernment of truth may be more in
spotting and noting untruth. The first
task is to become friends with silence and stillness, attention, and quiet
consent to the coming of the Spirit of Truth.
He abides with you, said
Jesus, and he will be in you.
[1] In
New Zealand, a “hui” is in Maori terms a meeting to discuss some issue at great
length with speeches.
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