This Sermon was written by and published for : Steamboat28
"Truth Need Not Be True"
This month's theme, and a lot of Christmas-based conversations with terminally conservative family members brought again to my mind a simple truth: Truth doesn't matter.
Or, rather, it doesn't have to be true to matter.
Aesop’s fables have delighted, entertained, and taught us for centuries. Similar to the parables of religious teachers like the Christ and the Buddha, Aesop’s stories snuck moral teachings into chuckle-worthy tales of talking animals and strangers.
And yet, none of them were true. Do you honestly believe that the fox, the lion, and the ass spoke with one another? Do you really believe that the one man buried his talents in the ground? Do you honestly think that, literally and historically, George Washington chopped down a cherry tree, that Pilgrims and Natives got along that first Thanksgiving, or that Cain and Abel were brothers?
Is there any way we can prove any of that?
Whether you believe it or not, whether you can prove it or not, matters exactly none. What’s important is not whether these stories are “true” in the factual sense, but whether or not they are “True” in a sense that they teach us important lessons. Art, Picasso said, is a lie that makes us realize the truth.
In his book, “Modern Magick”, author Donald Michael Kraig says, in a discussion on the history of Tarot:
Myths aren’t just stories. They are stories that promote values that people choose to follow…The mythic histories of the Tarot tell us more about the Tarot’s true nature than do simple dates. They also tell us about our own natures…Therefore, the mythic histories…are important not for objective historical fact, but for what they myths mean to me, to you, and to human civilization.
We can (and ultimately probably will) fight constantly about what we think is factual, is real, is true, or is historic. And we can do all this while missing the point. It matters less if Zeus exists than it matters what stories of Zeus can teach us. It matters less if Christ is historical than it matters what stories of Christ can teach us. It matters less if Star Wars is fiction than it matters what Star Wars can teach us.
The value of a myth is not in its historicity, but rather in what it reveals about ourselves. Find the lessons buried in the myth, apply them to your heart, and let others fight over what’s “real” and what’s not. We’ve better things to do with our time.
And now, in a healthy nod to the theme of the season with a goodly dose of punk mixed in, I'd like to take a moment to break with tradition in these sermons so that we can better understand the tradition that ends these sermons.
In lieu of the traditional recitation of the creed, I'd like us to take a moment of personal reflection and meditation over one possible reinterpretation of those words we repeat so often.
I am a Jedi.
I exist to promote peace among all; it is my duty to rise above the petty squabbles that separate humanity and extend a hand of friendship so that I may lift all others up with me.
I will go to the places where there is hatred, where there is injustice, where there exist intolerance, doubt, hopelessness, despair, darkness, sickness of the heart, sadness, and grief.
I will go there armed with courage, with hope, with love, with faithfulness, with loyalty and truth. I will go there bearing joy and light, forgiving where I might forgive, and sowing forgiveness in others.
I will do what I can to heal the hurts and mend the breaks. I will do what I can to teach others to do the same.
I am a Jedi.
I will seek bread for others before I feed myself. I will fill the glasses of those around me before I slake my own thirst.
I will tend to the wounds of my brothers and sisters before I will seek to bind my own. I will forgive those who hurt me before I seek forgiveness for myself. I will try my best to understand others before I seek to be understood, and I will love all before I seek love for myself.
It is by the act of giving selflessly that I truly understand the joy of receiving, mirrored in another's face. It is when I forgive others that I understand the weight of burden and guilt lifted by my pardon. It is in comforting the hurts of another that we begin to understand the relief of healing in other people. It is through dying that we understand the value of the life given to us, and the time we spent during it helping others to appreciate it as well.
The Force is with me through these challenges to my own desires. I can, I will do these things. Because I am a Jedi.
My thoughts and wishes for a wonderful day, full of reminders of the many things you have to be joyful for in this new year. May the Force be with you all.
