Compass
One word is good enough.
Early this New Year I was challenged to think of one word that would be a sort of anchor, a magnetic north for this new year.
Words are important to me. As a writer, I agonize over the right one at least twice in one sentence. I edited just the last sentence twice before the period.
Surprisingly, one word found its way to my conscious: Truth. Truth is powerful. Truth is a double- edged sword; it is capable of severing delusions, relationships, and ignorance. Truth is also incredibly difficult to prove when no one has all the facts, or when they do have a few they twist them or withhold them.
In this new year I am struggling with the truth: what is it? How do I find it? Will I even recognize it when I see it?
It was either truth or faith, but soon I thought about how related the two are, and I also saw that of the two truth was definitely harder for me. Besides, in this season of treasuring truth, I believe my faith will increase in strength. It won't be that the truth will prove anything so that I can dismiss faith, but the zeal with which I seek the difference between truth and falsehood will translate to exercising the tenacity with which I believe what I believe.
I started taking out poetry books from the library. Poems are most powerful when the poet is deeply personal - truthful to the marrow. Their experiences, whatever they are, resonate most when the poet opens him or herself up.
Truth is really an exercise in clarity of soul.
In a world of subjectivism, I need that clarity.
No comments:
Post a Comment