It has been said throughout the ages that the truth shall set you free. For millennia, humankind has been in search of “the” truth. Religions have attempted to teach the truth. Governments have attempted to suppress the truth. Science has attempted to quantify the truth. And philosophers have attempted to define the truth. At different stages of our personal evolution we were appeased and fascinated by each of these groups in our own unique way. Today, as many of us are coming to know, it is no longer enough. In the midst of the awakening and consciousness shift on our planet many of us are transcending all past structures that attempted to deal with the truth. The question we need to ask ourselves today is what truth are we talking about, and more importantly whose truth.

We have a lot of people, groups and organizations to this day trying to share “the” truth. The truth about life, about death, about love, and you name it! And as we go through our journey in this lifetime, it is all too common for us to adopt various truths, living by them and treating them as our own. As we examined in a previous essay, this is all too often influenced by our beliefs, which are normally nothing more than conditioned ways of thinking and behaving. And there would be nothing wrong with living life through someone else’s truth, if it wasn’t for the one small detail that it just isn’t “your” truth. And although this may not have mattered in the past, today we have come to a spiritual maturity where it does matter, and matter a lot. For unless we experience something personally, external truth, no matter how good sounding is nothing more than a limiting concept.

Who Are You?

So let’s start with this question: who are you? I mean, who are you really. Not who are you trying to be, not who are you supposed to be and not who are you playing as in this lifetime, but who or what is the essence behind the physical body, words and actions. It might seem like such an easy question each of us should be able to answer, but in reality it is one of the hardest questions for most of us to answer. Many of us attempt to answer this question normally in one of two ways: literal or philosophical. Either we start to name all of the physical aspects of the labels that we identify with, such as a man, or a mother, or a CEO, or a nature lover, or a student, etc. Or, we attempt to provide some sort of etheric definition that may lack substance or practicality.

If you are able to truly answer this question, you are one of a very small minority. Most people have no idea who they are…or why they are…or why they are here in this physical lifetime. That is pretty interesting considering that we invest so much time on trivial matters daily that have no meaning or value for us on a deeper level, and so little time, if any, determining who we really are.

Now for the pragmatic in the audience, you may be thinking, well what does it really matter who we are, the point is that we are. So let’s just get on with the show, right? Possibly. But you see if we cannot even answer who we are, how can we go any further in understanding truth. The first fundamental truth is being able to know who you are. If we cannot grasp the inner truth of who we are, how can we even begin to grasp the truth of anything outside of ourselves?

In the end, it does not matter if we are talking about your truth on a physical or spiritual level. The point is to be talking about YOUR truth. So whether your truth includes being a dancer, or that humans can fly, or being transgendered, or that you are an extraterrestrial from another star system, it is all valid. Knowing who you are and what your personal truths are need not be cryptic or beyond this realm. It can and should be just as real and practical, as it is deep and spiritual. Yes, you may not know the essence of who you are just yet, but the fastest way to get there is to live your truth. The more you live your truth, the more you connect with the essence of who it is that you really are. And as you can imagine from there on, everything else begins to make crystal clear sense as to why you are here, or what is the purpose of life, etc.

So that is it, just live your truth. Should be very simple, right? Well, not quite.

Have the Courage to Live Your Truth

I will be the first to admit that it is not easy to live our truth. There are just too many external influences in our physical world that try to dictate what is normal or acceptable at any given time. There are also many personal pressures in the form of family, friends or coworkers that dictate what or how they expect us to be, or do. I know I have throughout my life at different points repressed and suppressed so many parts of myself unjustly.

Think about your own life. How many times have you expressed to your parents as a younger person what you really wished to be, or do, or experience, only to have them strike it down as some warped fantasy of youth, and tell you what the real truth of the matter is to be. How many times have you shared with a partner something you were longing to be or do, only to have them dismiss the idea as out of the question. How many times have you entertained that deep inner whisper within yourself, only to have yourself shoot it down as not possible. After all, what would others think? What would you think? And what shift in belief patterns would it cause? Many of us are not yet quite willing to live by those stakes.

And this is the point of where the real problem lies.

Most of us know all too well how hard it is to be truly ourselves and express our truth at any given time. The fear of being ostracized in some way, even if only by you, yourself, is enough to limit our personal expression. I think all of us can relate to the teenage years perhaps as being the hardest of all time when we have raging struggles inside between expressing and repressing who we are. Yet although we make it alive past those often challenging years, most of us continue to live in some form of personal repression for the rest of our physical lives. How sad. We never get the courage to develop our truth. We never dare to question who we really are. We prefer the limiting definitions that have been handed down for generations. It seems so much safer that way.

Well the time has come where your inner being will be letting you know loud and clear that the time has indeed come where any kind of repression of who you are and your truth will no longer be tolerated. This is not meant to be negative. It is just simply not spiritually healthy for you…and the pounds of repression are starting to add up.

You see, as long as we live life by someone else’s rules, or truth, we are never going to be free. We will never fully know who we really are. This is why the age old statement is very true, that indeed the truth shall set you free. But a small addition that I propose to make is to understand that it is YOUR truth that shall set you free.

When you give yourself permission to be you, express what your heart and soul desire to experience at any given time, it is then that we really begin to experience the fullness of the human experience. It is then that we really begin to live consciously. And when you give yourself the permission to be fully you, you give others the permission to be fully them. Judgement gets released and neutralized. Love, compassion and acceptance are embraced and practiced.

So give yourself the permission to be you, find your personal truth at every point of your life journey and live it. Live your truth, and step into the knowing of who it is that you really are.