“And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” Matthew 11:6
If love is the irresistible force, then truth is the immovable object. Truth cannot neither be owned nor cornered; human opinion pales and quivers in its almighty, imperturbable shadow.
Gloria Steinem once observed that “The truth will set you free, but first it pisses you off.” While most may not go to such extremes when they encounter a new truth, this reaction, or a diluted version of it, does seem to be the rule rather than the exception.
Why is that?
Is it a self-defense mechanism triggered by myside bias? Or is it a dressed up version of the “don’t call me stupid” reaction? I’m sure that there are a variety of factors involved in any individual pattern of reaction, but at the core of it is an unwillingness to submit to a more exacting pattern of control.
One aspect of truth is control. If love is the energy of the universe, truth is the pattern for its body. I remember going to the dreaded fabric store with my mother and brothers when I was a child, but looking back, I do recognize that the experience provided me with an excellent symbol for how the universe works.
Every fabric store has an area devoted to sewing patterns, specifications for how to transform the unformed bolts of fabric, another mainstay of these stores, into purposeful and fashionable items of clothing. Truth is the pattern by which and through which the unformed takes shape. Put otherwise, the truth is the means by which the invisible is made visible.
When you make the acquaintance of a new truth, you not only learn a new pattern, but you also expand your ability to extend creative control into your field of circumstance. Gaining control is the essence of maturation, the quintessence of human development. Your purpose, in its barest sense, is to extend control – not your control, but the control of truth under the command of love – into the world around you.
Control issues lie at the heart of human misery. These struggles are the one bad cell from which the cancer of futility replicates. Make no mistake: this struggle is not between man and nature, it is between man and the truth of love.
The greatest challenge of our generation is to reacquaint ourselves with the principles of truth which govern our existence. Intellectualism has a part to play as does spirituality, for the truth can only be known when heart and mind are in clear agreement. But like a child who has to learn not to react to surprise with anger, we have to cultivate in ourselves the ability to overcome the unproductive flinching which all too often follows exposure to the light of truth.
It sounds good in theory, but putting it into practice is the most important part. We have to be hearers and doers of truth if we wish to be successful in living. The habit of taking offense must be replaced by a new first flush of feeling, one that emphasizes rushing to meet the new truth, rather than fighting against it or hiding from it.
It’s time to leave the cave, my friends.
Gregory Hake 
As we move to meet the truth we may recognize how foolish and hard headed we may have been. And as we move beyond those feelings something does open up in awareness whereby we find the greatest of comfort in acknowledging the truth. As we do find comfort it does set the way whereby we find that we are more apt to rush to meet the truth. It just takes steps that quicken as we move along in the right direction.
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Thank you for the straightforward explanation. Getting out of the habit of deflecting the truth by childish reaction is crucial to our effectiveness. its a relativly simple idea to grasp in our lifelong seeking to live the life we were created to. It is a delaying strategy that retards maturity thus lessens the depth of personal impact we have on the world in our lifetime.
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This is something that sounds so wonderful in theory and it would be easy to just nod your head “yes” and love the ideal. However, I’ve found in my own experience that it takes grit and determination to actively seek the light of truth. Instead of just waiting for the right circumstance that just happens to reveal areas where we might be hiding or balking, it’s much better to place your heart and thoughts on the chopping block of reality. It might sound painful at first, but the more that you do this, the easier it gets. From there, I find that it is actually a joy to learn a new pattern because you see and experience the infinite possibilities of creation that come from working within a framework of truth.
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