What is a person, if not what he knows?
Do planets not revolve around the largest pull of gravity, destined to orbit unless a greater source of gravity takes them into a different course, around which they continue to orbit? Does not every sun? Don’t we?
Copernicus revealed that the heavens don’t revolve around the earth. Ought we not to see that we are also subjects that revolve around what we know to be true? Every action taken is based on a truth believed. Every feeling is the result from a truth believed. For better or worse, every being, without exception, acts according to what is understood to be good, and it is the truth believed that informs man as to what is good.
Imagine a man standing at a cross walk waiting for the light to turn. He isn’t aware of you, he just is, however he is. Is it not what he knows that makes him? Is not his posture made of the most unconscious of thoughts believed? Passed the dress shirt and the style of his bag, if one were to see him through and through, does his stance not reveal the things he knows about himself and the things he knows about the world? Whether he is loved or not enough, whether he has all he needs or if there is never enough, whether he knows who he is and where he is going or he just can’t place it. Much more if he was to turn and talk to you – whether he knows he is powerless or powerful is apparent in the words he chooses, the spirit he brings. Is this not what a man is? Is not happy or sad, confident or scared just the fruit of what is known?
If maturity is defined to be “better developed,” is it not to be aware of and functioning properly in concert with the greater reality of what matters? Eyes opened wider, seeing beyond the immediate feeling and circumstance. Is that not defined by “lessons” and “revelations” upon which beliefs are formed? Professionally, old men used to be the source of all wisdom when experience was the primary source of revelation, but when we realized and became equipped to proactively mine truth at the bleeding edge of understanding through questioning and experimentation, wisdom is now in the hands of the one who can form puzzle pieces that add to the ledger of truth. Is this not also true then, personally?
It is not in how much one knows, that makes a man, in information or facts that service the daily operational needs. They live on the surface, engaging as connectors and pieces that serve to execute the agenda already set. Where there is a lack of depth in understanding, so there is in the ability to be. Isn’t identity more than the mere expression of the moment or season? Isn’t what we see just the result of what is underneath? Are we creatures so shallow that we are tied to a label based on performance. We are not what we do. But then, what are we?
A farmer is considered by himself and his community as a farmer due to the fact his occupation and lifestyle revolve around the farm that he tends. But have the fire come and destroy his fields and place him in the city, is he destined to perish? Doesn’t he know how to cultivate, grow, and tend to needs? Wouldn’t that flourish in any environment? A father may find himself a father because of the implication of having offspring, but does he know how to be a father unless he knows what a father is? Is a leader defined by title and recognition, or by the influence they have upon their environment? Then can one be a father in role only, and a leader in title only while not being so? Can’t, then, one be a father without an offspring or a leader without a title?
Do we really need our environment to tell us who we are before we live it? Do we need the truth to be recognized before it is manifested? Can’t we give to the life around us, rather than take from it? If we do not realize the authority that we have over our heart and mind, we are destined to be subject to the emotions that “come upon us,” to react to the pressures around us, a slave to waves that rise and crash, trapped until we wake up feeling better tomorrow or our circumstance provides the feelings we are looking to feel. Isn’t it our garden that sprouted forth those emotions, isn’t our actions decided by our intention alone?
Did Jesus not know He was the beloved Son of God until the heavens were torn opened and the Father declared it? Was He not beloved before it was spoken?
To be is to know.
To know what? Something you know to be real (a truth). Know how? To the point where the anchor line drags far enough down until it is tied down, where the gravity mass is so compelling that an orbit forms. To know unto the point of being changed by the understanding. Metanoia. Repentance, in its actual definition. The “shifting of the mind.” To become changed by the reality of truth.
To where, we are what we know. Specifically, we “are”, being the identity we live from, which is not to be confused with our actual identity that remains static and fixed. Identity implied from action, and identity in standing. Just as a prince can act the fool in debauchery and slander, and all things beneath his station, one can abdicate their identity and “be” something else entirely. It is what they “are” by being it, though they may be something entirely different. And to that end, which would be more effective in finding the prince playing the fool in coming on to women, “Hey, you! Be chivalrous!” … Or … “Hey you! Aren’t you a prince?”
Since truth is objective, there can only be one place from which it is found.
To know truth is to know Jesus. The Way, the Truth, and the Life. To know the truth of who we are is to know who Jesus is. To know the truth of what matters is to know the heart of Jesus. The dwelling in His presence as you and God become one. We are transformed by Holy Spirit in a new birth by the blood of Jesus. To be “like Jesus” is to know what Jesus knows. Is this not sufficient for everything, ever?
What is good if not God? Why then, would we concern ourselves to settle for less than the full experienced reality of any truth that isn’t from the mouth God?
Why be driven by any other pressure, why hope for any other thing, why love anything else?
Why be a slave to any other master, if that master is a lie? There is only one master that brings forth light, life, freedom, and peace. Because only truth is good, and we do indeed want it.
The Call To More 