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Part 22 - Truth

Fact and truth are not the same.

· science,mind,yoga,joy

"Facts are notes and lyrics on sheet music. Truth is what the singer gives to the listener when she’s brave enough to open up and sing from her heart."

- H. Gardner

Facts are unassailable by reason. Truth includes perspective and experience. Fact is testable. Truth is personal.

Yogis harbor truth. Experience and perspective are subjective mediums, with which we paint our world view. A yogini who travels to India on a quest may (very likely will) carry home a trunk brimming with experiences that inform and shape her practice. This is the nature of truth.

I've made pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago in Spain a couple of times now, once in 2013 and again in 2015. I plan to peregrinate once more next year to celebrate 50 years of experience. My truth now incorporates my experiences along the Way of St. James.

My truth includes a healthy portion of uncertainty. I find more to question the more I experience. My truth includes an adoration of other cultures. I love spending time with people from all corners of the globe (See what I did there?). My truth includes a notion of the fundamental goodness of most people. I've borne witness to countless acts of kindness along The Way.

In my vocation, I trade in facts. It's the nature of the craft. Facts matter. Truth, perspective and experience, is for trial and arguments. In court truth is a construct.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

- S. Clemens

Our yogini who traveled to India may have construed truth out of her ornate box of accrued observations. Her truth my be different from yours or mine, most likely will be. But it's her truth, the one she's built.

If truth is a construct, should facts not form the foundation?