You’ve heard the statement, “There are as many opinions as there are people.” Of course, it’s true. What is happening in our country right now gives us much to have an opinion about. However, opinion is not Truth. Opinion is based on observation. The dictionary defines it as “a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.“

Most of us have been watching and listening to the events unfolding after the attack on the Capitol and on our Democratic process on January 6. My stating it in this way is an opinion based on what I experienced and witnessed. It seemed obvious and evident that something very violent and wrong happened and that it was instigated strongly by the President of the United States. However, there is another group of people who see the event in a totally different way. This is an opinion also. I do not understand how someone can deny what is evident, but that is not what I am interested in right now. I am interested not in opinion, but in Truth.

So, what is Truth and how do we know when we are experiencing it. Truth doesn’t come to us by looking out. It doesn’t come by judging events through the lens of observation. Truth is an inward journey that is individual. We take what we see in the outward world and we bring it into the heart, and we listen to our inward direction and revelation. If this inward revelation comes from a place of love, we can know it is Truth. If this inward revelation comes from a place of “do no harm,” we can no it is Truth. If this inward revelation comes from a deep peace, we can know it is Truth. When I think of the idea of Truth, I am reminded of Pilate asking Master Jesus, “What is Truth?” Jesus never answered the question perhaps because you cannot answer this question for another person.

It takes time to go inward. It takes time to step away from the outside world and chaos and center in communion with the Divine. It takes time to listen deeply. It takes time. I am being asked to go deeply within and center myself in Love and in Peace. I am being asked to bring that Love and Peace into my outer world and be one of the helpers. The helpers are those of us who aren’t necessarily interested in who wins or loses. We are driven by the calling to assist others in finding their peace, their truth, their strength, their love in the storm of life. We are driven by the calling to awake us to our Magnificence as Divine Beings. We do not need to be right and we do not care if people think we are wrong. We are simply here to live by Divine Laws. We take responsibility for our lives. We trust that the Universe is always unfolding as it should and that Divine Right Action is always in place no matter what. We show up where we are needed and we support love.

This is not a knowing we get from looking out, but it is a knowing that serves us as we walk out into experience.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita Andriello-Feren, Co-Spiritual Director CSL Kaua`i