| CHAPTER PAGE
I. The Meaning of Truth 9
II. How to Know the Truth 23
III. How to Seek the Truth 35
IV. Where to Find the Truth 50
V. Where We Get Our Ideas 63
VI. The Two Sides of Truth 74
VII. Striking Illustrations of Half Truths 89
VIII. The Subconscious Factor 99
IX. The Real and the Unreal Ill
X. In Reality Everything is Good 122
XI. Causing the Best to Happen 129
XII. The Truth About Right and Wrong. 137
XIII. The Truth About Freedom 148
XIV. The Royal Path to Freedom 157
XV. The Truth Beyond Truth 164
XVI. Discernment of Absolute Truth 176
FOREWORD.
To formulate a complete and final definition for
truth is not possible, the reason being that the truth
in itself, or in any of its expressions, cannQt be
circumscribed by the human mind. The truth is
too large to be described by any definition, however
basic or comprehensive it may be. The best we can
do, therefore, is to define our highest conceptions of
truth. And moreover, we shall find this to be suffi-
cient.
To define and understand our highest conception
of truth is to know, in the present, as much of the
truth as we shall find necessary to gain that freedom
that invariably comes with the truth. And as we
continue to seek higher and higher conceptions of
truth, as we advance in life, we shall accordingly
find that greater measure of freedom which must
necessarily accompany the more advanced stages of
human existence.
The purpose, therefore, of this book is not to
present a clear-cut definition of truth, nor to give
an answer to the question, What is truth? that
would stand the test of all thought and experience.
No, indeed, for such a course would defeat the aim
we all have in view — the finding of more and more
truth, and would make the search of truth far more
difficult. The reason for this will be evident as we
peruse the following pages.
Our purpose in this work is rather to present a
plan or outline by which any individual may guide
his mind in the attainment of higher and higher
conceptions of truth in all its phases, and thereby
understand the truth for himself at every stage of
advancement which he may reach in his own sphere
of life, thought and action. And this is the only
rational course to pursue, for each individual must
understand the truth for himself if he is to know
that truth that brings freedom; but in order that
he may understand the truth for himself he must
seek and find the truth for himself. The only truth
that is of any value to us is that truth that we have
gained through our own individual efforts to
actually know truth and inwardly realize the pres-
ence and power of truth.
This being true, all wide-awake and progressive
minds will agree that the aim of this book, which is
to present practical and effective methods through
which anyone may find more and more truth, in-
stead of trying to give a final and complete system
of thought supposed to contain all the truth, which
is impossible — all such minds will agree that this
aim is the only aim, in this connection, that can
possibly be rational in its process and practical in
its application. And it is for such minds that this
book is written. We feel, therefore, that every
page will be fully appreciated, and that every state-
ment will be thoroughly understood.
WHAT IS TRUTH
CHAPTER I.
THE MEANING OF TRUTH.
No aim can be higher than that of seeking truth,
and no reward can be greater than that of finding
the truth. In fact, it is now considered by every-
body that the greatest virtue of all virtues is to have
an intense and ceaseless desire for truth. And the
greatest good of all that is good is to realize a
greater and greater measure of real truth.
The necessities of life are many, but there is noth-
ing that man needs so much as more truth. To
possess the truth is to possess everything that we
can use now, and also to possess the key to every-
thing that we may require for the future. The
great objects of every normal person are invariably
emancipation and attainment. To be set free from
the imperfect and the lesser and to attain the perfect
and the greater — this is what everybody is con-
sciously or unconsciously working for; and truth
can accomplish this, but truth alone. ‘To know the
truth is to secure complete emancipation; and to
know the truth is to ascend into higher and higher
attainments
The awakened minds of every age have realized
that the knowing of truth was the one great secrrt
that could unravel all other secrets ; and they have
given their lives trying to reveal to mankind what
truth really might be. Nevertheless, the race does
not know, and the universal question still continues
to be, What is truth? To answer this question,
however, is not difficult, but it is difficult for most
minds to comprehend the answer. The human mind
too often believes its own conception of a truth to
be the truth itself, and here is where the difficulty
; ljes. This is the one great mistake of every age.
JTruth is one thing, but man’s conception of truth is
quite another thing. % Truth is eternal, unchange-
able and complete, while man’s conception of truth
is temporal, mutable, and incomplete. To absolute
truth nothing can be added, nothing taken away,
but man’s conception of truth is frequently wrong,
even when it may appear to be absolutely right.
The truth is infinite and immeasurable. No one,
therefore, can know the whole truth. To claim that
you have found the absolute truth, or that you have
discovered the perfect path to absolute truth is, in
consequence, to delude yourself. The truth is so
large that no one can ever find it all. We may
devote an eternity to the finding of more and more
truth, and yet, what we have found is insignificant
compared to the immensity of the whole truth itself.
The truth is everywhere, therefore there is no one
perfect path to the truth. Every mind is in the
f ruth, literally filled and surrounded by the truth,
but no mind can contain the whole truth. It is
possible to discern truth and know truth, but it is
not possible to actually comprehend the truth. It
is possible to understand the mental conception of
truth, but it is not possible to understand truth
itself.
The truth may be defined as an eternal state of
perfect being; therefore, to know truth is to know
that real being is perfect, and also that the perfect
state of real being is eternal. To obtain a larger
and a larger mental conception of eternal perfection
of real being, or fundamental reality, is to grow in
the truth. To grow in the truth is to find more
truth, and to pass into the larger, the better, and the
superior.
To accept a mental conception of truth as the
truth itself is to bring all growth to a standstill, but
this is what mankind in general has been doing and
is doing. And because of this the majority remain
in mental darkness, bondage and inferiority. An
age that worships some one mind’s conception of
truth invariably becomes materialistic, no matter
how lofty that mind was that originally formed the
conception of truth that is worshiped. A material-
istic mind is a mind that lives in the effects of
previous efforts and that does nothing to rise above
such conditions as heredity has handed down.
Growth, however, comes from the breaking of
bounds, f rom the leaving of the lesser and perpetu-
ally pressing on toward the greater. The material-
istic mind is like the stagnant pool; it is inactive or
practically dead, no matter how active or beautiful
its surroundings may be. At the present time we
find materialistic minds everywhere surrounded by
the highest culture and the most beautiful in art,
and on account of those surroundings we fail to
discern the uselessness, and in many instances the
detriment, of the materialism thus hidden from
view. We may believe the stagnant pool to be a
pond of living water, because it is found in a garden
of roses. In like manner we may believe that minds
found in the midst of art, learning and culture must
surely be living, growing, aspiring minds ; but when
we draw very near in either case we are disil-
lusioned. In this age the most detrimental form of
materialism is practically hidden within circles of
enchanting music, fascinating rituals, elegant rhet-
oric and royal garments. Accordingly, materialism
itself is not discerned by the many, and they follow
blindly, continuing in sickness, sin, and death.
Truth alone can give emancipation, but we cannot
find the truth so long as we humbly worship what
some one has said about the truth. In this age
many efforts have been made to formulate the
truth in some definite system, but how can we place
that something into system that is infinitely larger
than all systems? To follow a system of thought is
to worship some mind’s conception of truth and to
ignore the real truth itself. A system, however,
may be employed if it is employed soldy as the
means to higher conceptions, but as soon as we look
upon a system as authority, our eyes will not be able
to see the truth any more.
Systems of thought, as well as systems of action,
are necessary as a means to higher ends, but the
higher ends will not be reached unless we constantly
look through the system and keep the eye single
upon the infinite, unchangeable and immeasurable
truth. When using systems in this manner, how-
ever, we must remember that it is not possible to
know absolutely any part of the truth upon which
our mental eye may be directed. It is not possible,
even for a mind that is ever becoming larger and
larger, to comprehend the limitless at any time. All
that we can do now is to form the largest and
highest conception of truth that our present mental
capacity can permit, and then proceed to enlarge
that conception perpetually.
True wisdom comes through mental ascension
into the unbounded truth, and not through a studied
belief of what we now accept as the truth. That
knowledge that has power is gained through the
constant enlargement of mentality; that is, through
the expansion of consciousness as the mind grows
in the truth, and not from the accumulation of rela-
tive facts. Emancipation comes through ascension,
and in no other way; that is, the ascension of the
mind into a larger, a higher and a finer under-
standing of the truth. The mind that is perpetually
passing into the greater is constantly being eman-
cipated from the lesser. And the mind that is for-
ever growing better is daily being set free from the
ills of error and imperfection.
In this connection it is important to realize that
the only cause of bondage is found in a settled or
inactive condition of mind. There are many minds
that think they have secured freedom through the
acceptance of a certain system of thought, but the
freedom they have received did not come from the
system of thought itself. Freedom never comes
from the acceptance of systems, but from the mind’s
ascension into the new and the larger. If a certain
system leads you away from the imperfection of
your present life you will be emancipated from that
imperfection, but if you give the system the credit,
you will worship the system. You will dwell in the
mental conceptions upon which that system is based
and your mind will not move any further toward
the realization of larger truth.
In this very place millions have brought their
lives to a standstill; they having accepted various
new systems as the whole truth discovered at last,
and they have settled down in that belief. When
they first accepted the new system of thought
their minds naturally gained a higher place, and
they were set free to that extent; but when they
began to worship the system as the great emanci-
pator it ceased to be a means to higher things, and
became a prison which they dared not leave lest
they fall back into their former condition. A new
system of thought if worshiped as the truth will
prevent you from ascending further into truth, and
will, therefore, in due course of time make youi
mind just as materialistic and as limited as it wai
in the past.
The fact that you have health, peace and content-
ment does not prove that you have found absolute
freedom, or that you have realized absolute truth.
There are thousands who have health, peace and
freedom who do not follow any system of thought
at all, and who do not claim to have found a single
absolute fact. For here we should remember that
whenever we accept a new system of thought our
minds are changed in a measure, and a change of
mind always tends to eliminate adverse conditions
of the system, both physical and mental.
Our great purpose, however, is not simply to
realize peace, health and attainment, but also to
develop our own individuality. And if we continue
our individual development, health, peace and
attainment, and all other blessings will follow.
This being true, we must not permit anything that
will in any way hinder our fullest individual expres-
sion. But the fact is that there is nothing that hin-
ders individual expression and the development of
individuality more than the acceptance of a fixed
system of thought as the absolute truth itself. No
matter how well it may be with you in your present
condition, physically, mentally or financially, if your
belief makes you dependent upon any person, insti-
tution or outside authority, your individuality is
being kept down. And instead of moving forward,
as you may think, you are actually on the path to
retrogression.
The experience of all ages proves this fact, and
what has crippled individuality, or caused man to
fdeteriorate in the past, can do so again. It is the
jevidence of history that every fixed system of
|thought has made mental and spiritual dwarfs of
‘its most faithful followers. We all understand the
reason why. No individual mind can know the
truth through the understanding of some other
mind; therefore each mind must not only be per-
mitted, but encouraged, to develop its own indi-
vidual capacity for knowing the truth, and nothing
jmust stand in the way of the perpetual ascension
of the soul into new conceptions of truth every day.
The understanding of truth is promoted through
individual research in all domains of life, and in the
1 use of all the systems of thought available as means
to an end in the furthering of all research. It is
tueref ore evident that individuality or the power of
each mind to stand upon its own feet is indispensa-
ble in the search of truth. Fixed lines of action
may be necessary in the systematic search for truth,
but these lines should not be limited in number, nor
confined to certain spheres of action.
Thousands of minds, otherwise intelligent, keep
themselves in mental darkness because they refuse
to seek truth outside of the usual lines. They forget
that the lines now looked upon as usual and regular
were once upon a time very unusual, and even con-
sidered dangerous. The fact is, however, that any
line of research will lead to truth, and nothing is
dangerous that will bring us more truth. We may
therefore lay aside all fears, open wide all doors to
all realms, and place our minds absolutely out in
the open.
In the search of truth it is of the highest impor-
tance to be able to discriminate between truth itself
and our mere mental conception of truth, and also
between those conceptions that are true and those
that are not. When you are dealing with a mental
conception you are dealing with something that
your mind contains, but^when you are dealingjwith ^
truth Jiselt~you are dealing with jsomethingi that
contains your mind. A mental conception of truth s
Ts limited — it is something that mind can measure, \
but the truth itself is not limited, and therefore
cannot be measured. False conceptions of truth, how-
ever, will not form themselves in your mind when
you view the truth as infinite, and when the mind
invariably ascends or tries to rise higher in the scale
of understanding while attempting to realize more
truth; in brief, a conception of truth is true as far
as it goes if the mind expanded while that concep-
tion was formed. This is a simple rule and will be
found to contain the greatest secret of all in the
realization of more and more truth.
The fact is, that the aspiring or expanding atti-
tude of the mind is the only attitude through which
more truth can be gained, for no mental conception
of truth is true unless it is superior to the concep-
tion that was formed before. And here it must be
remembered that to know the truth is to know more
truth. The very act of the mind in knowing the
truth involves the act of knowing more truth at
that particular time. Whenever the mind is trying
to know the truth it must try to know more truth in
order to know truth at all. We are not moving
forward unless we are moving forward. For the
same reason we are not knowing truth unless we
are knowing more truth, because the truth is limit-
less, and every act of the mind that is attracted
toward the knowing of truth must of necessity be
attracted toward the knowing of all the truth. This
means that every effort to know the truth must be
a forward movement in the mind.
What was truth to you in the past is not truth to
you now because that alone is truth to you now that
you discern through your own present mental
capacity, which is necessarily larger than your
capacity was in the past. What we call truth is our
present view of infinite truth, therefore if our pres-’
ent view is not superior to the past view we are still
living in the past view; and if we are still living in
the past view we are worshiping a system of out-
grown beliefs; therefore do not see the truth at all.
The mental conceptions we form while in a stag-
nant state are not conceptions of truth*; they are
simply varying beliefs concerning the size and the
structure of our prison walls; that is, the walls of
the system in which we have incased ourselves.
When you are confined in a system you are standing
still, you see the bounds and the limitations of the
system, but you do not see the boundlessness of the
truth itself. And since we cannot form conceptions
of truth unless we have our eyes directed upon
infinite truth, the fact that your present conception
is not superior to its predecessor proves that you
are not viewing the truth. Accordingly, that con-
ception cannot be true. The truth invariably lies
in the line of an ascending scale of thought or
mental action, while the untruth is formed when
the mind is at a standstill, or is in the line of retro-
gression.
The understanding of truth is never fixed. A
fixed understanding is no understanding, because
to understand is to go deeper and deeper into the
unfathomable states of the absolute; in brief, it
involves an action of the mind. And any action of
the mind that aims to understand must necessarily
move toward the greater truth. We therefore sec
how impossible it is for any form of understanding
to be fixed and stable. Comprehension does not
comprehend unless it perpetually enlarges itself,
because when the mind ceases to expand it ceases
to act, and when it ceases to act no comprehension
can take place. To comprehend is to go around,
but if we are not going there necessarily will be no
comprehension.
We therefore realize how necessary it is that
every effort to know truth must be an effort to com-
prehend greater truth. The mind either goes out
into the larger or remains at a standstill, though
frequently when it remains at a standstill it is
actually being contracted into a smaller mental
sphere. When the mind remains at a standstill, or
deteriorates, it does not act upon anything that is
larger or superior to its past belief; and conse-
quently the act of comprehension does not take
place.
A mind that is belittling itself is not on the way
to the realization of greater wisdom. The mind can
know only through the act of ascension or expan-
sion; that is, the rising in the scale of thought,
feeling and consciousness. When the mind ceases
to ascend it ceases to know, because the act of
knowing is a forward movement of those mental
processes that are involved in thinking, reasoning
and similar acts of the mind. Therefore, when the
mind ceases to ascend it begins to dwell in mental
darkness, and from mental darkness come all the
ills of life. To find the truth and to know the
truth it is necessary to view the truth as infinite and
immeasurable, and to ascend perpetually into a
larger and a larger consciousness of that Infinite
view of truth.
When you think of things as entities, and try to
know the truth concerning them, it is always neces-
sary to turn the attention upon the limitless truth
that is back of appearances. We cannot gain the
truth about anything unless the mind expands into
the consciousness of the all that is contained in
everything. And we cannot ascend in this way
unless we direct our research into the vast realms
that are beyond all appearances. There will always
be a beyond, but the beyond of today should be the
tangible and demonstrated realities of the days suc-
ceeding. What is hidden today should be proven
fact tomorrow. This is possible when we search
for the truth, not in the world of appearances, but
in the wider realms just beyond present appear-
ances.
But our object in seeking the truth is not simply
to possess the truth — it is also to find greater means
for growth, progress and ascension. Emancipation
and attainment are the two great aims in real life,
and both are the results of knowing the truth. To
know the truth is to ascend perpetually into the
infinite domains of truth, thus leaving behind the
lesser and forever entering into the greater. In
this way we pass out of and rise above everything
that has served its purpose and enter constantly into
the marvels and splendors still in store.
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