I’ve never met a person who did not, at some level, hope to better himself in the course of living. This fundamental desire defines and compels humankind; it is the driving force behind every step forward we’ve taken, and incidentally, most of the steps back.
Human beings overflow with good intentions. If their intentions are rooted in an orientation which is fundamentally correct, that is, centered in relation to love and truth, then progress is known in life. If, however, orientation is misplaced – no matter how right the individual thinks he may be – then steps taken to better himself will eventually worsen his situation.
It is not always easy to tell if one’s orientation is correct. As a result, many people content themselves with rules for living promulgated by an organized religion. Rather than develop the capacity to think it through themselves or put otherwise, rather than cultivate a direct and personal awareness of the principles of truth which govern all creation, many yield that privilege to a church or a faith in exchange for a lesser, yet superficially safer degree of liberty than that which attends a more intimate relationship with truth.
Most people would prefer to be wrong in a group. They fear failing singly and thus trade dignity and liberty for security. Unfortunately, the security secured on this basis is fleeting and infinitely more unreliable than that which arises from cultivating a personal relationship with the forces which spark and shape all of creation: love and truth. There is a certain comfort in numbers, but not all people are willing to make the internal compromises required to swallow, let alone stomach this compromise.
To those who understand the need for individual movement toward the goal we all share, fear not: you are not alone even if you feel isolated at times. When there is orientation in love and truth, there is unity, coordination and collective movement toward a common goal. Though this orientation exhorts oneness, it does not constrain to sameness. The infinite variety in nature and the constantly shifting balances established therein attest to this fact.
To those who understand the need for individual movement toward the goal we all share, fear not: you are only made less by mistakes when you repeat them thoughtlessly. Even if you are wrong at the moment, consistency in your approach provides you with a benchmark against which you can test different inputs of attitude or action. Try, test, correct and move forward, but for goodness sake, resist the temptation to struggle for the goal through frenzy, panic or in reaction to fear. Fear is never a creative motivation.
Knowing the truth and perhaps more importantly, developing an intimate relationship with the truth of love is a sacred privilege to which all ought to aspire. The tenuous yet comforting freedoms which spring from fidelity to an organized religion or from allegiance to the most generous of political systems pale in comparison to the true liberty which originates in and is sustained by a deep, genuine and constantly nourished orientation in love and truth.
Gregory Hake 
You can have the freedom and satisfaction of understanding and living the truth by test and by confirmation, but most people think the downside to this is that they will be alone, on their own. They think that forging ahead to make progress is a lonely endeavor. There is no doubt that if you live your life for the truth you will have to sometimes break with the crowd, but there are those of us who have had to do that too, and the people who live their lives for the truth will understand. There is community there, and there is comfort in that, and you don’t have to swallow the indignity of going against what you feel is the truth.
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It’s not always easy to know if your orientation is correct. You have to recheck it especially if you’re hitting a wall or things worsen. The ability to let go and change direction is not always easy. Tenacity can be a good trait but it can also be a bad one if you’re set on a course of action and it’s not the right one. I listened to an interview with a well loved celebrity who mentioned that she knew when she was “in the flow” and she recognized when she was not. I understood what she meant there as I’ve had that experience myself.
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The experience of proving and living the truth develops a sense of security that cannot easily be shaken, regardless of the many ups downs and sidewayses that may be experienced along the way in this erratic world! People do tend to settle, it’s true, for a deceptive short cut in this way. Religious thought is a prime culprit here, but human thought tends to be cultic in so many fields.
There is no shortcut to personal experience, to thinking, to objective observation. Others may provide us with a host of wonderful starting points for thought in any given area, but we only know the truth because we prove it and live it. Thank you for the excellent summary here. The starting points you offer are certainly abundant!
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Try, test and correct is a life worth living. When our impetus is a revelation of what I describe of as our genuine selves, we have the chance to hit the mark. The mark being a fullfillment of our purpose; which in turn provides our piece of the Creator’s whole. If the stars and planets can move in harmony and coordination and the plants and seasons can progress collectively there is guidance from a higher vantage. I think man maybe the only creation that doesn’t individually align with that power as the entrainment from which every impulse originates.
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