In review, universal truth is always true for everyone everywhere; communal truth is true for everyone sharing in a common reality. This is the fifth article in the What is Truth? Series. Previous articles are always available at http://www.webbweekly.com.
Personal truth is true for you and no one else. You are one of a kind. Even though all human DNA is 99.9% identical, the remaining 0.1% is sufficient to make every one of us unique. The fact is this: No human being has ever been, or ever will be, exactly like you. Even if someone was designed to be your perfect clone, they could never experience the vast and unique circumstances that have shaped your life.
There are five components that make up every human life: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and relational. Each one is highly complex and influenced by the time, place, environment, and culture in which you live. For that reason, no one else will ever be able to interpret life from your exact vantage point. No one. Ever. This is why you experience truth that is true for you and no one else.
Universal truth points us to true north and provides a way for us to live at peace with the world. Communal truth pulls us toward magnetic north and provides a way for us to live at peace with our communities. Personal truth reveals our core north and provides a way for us to live at peace with ourselves.
Finding true north requires a map; magnetic north requires a compass; core north requires a mirror.
In 2002, I was blessed with the opportunity to hunt elk on the 469 square miles of the Floyd Lee Ranch in New Mexico. I had never hunted elk before, and I knew nothing about the terrain of the West. For safety reasons, and to increase the likelihood of a successful hunt, the ranch assigned every hunter with a professional guide.
My guide knew things about the local terrain and elk herd that no map or compass could provide. What he didn’t know was me.
On the first morning, as we were driving to our hunting area, we came upon a massive bull about a hundred yards off the side of the road. My excited guide stopped his truck and told me it was likely the largest elk I would see on the ranch. He then instructed me to roll down my window and take careful aim.
Something about that moment didn’t seem right to me. I was conflicted inside. I hadn’t traveled nearly 2,000 miles and spent six months getting in shape to road hunt from a vehicle. Killing that elk in that way would have gone against my core north. A quick look in the mirror of my hunting soul revealed my truth.
I respectfully explained to my guide that I wanted to climb mountains, glass for hours, pick a bull, close the distance, and then bugle him into archery range. In other words, I wanted to hunt a bull more than I wanted to kill a bull, and if I went home empty-handed, I was okay with that.
The next two days were an incredible experience. We hiked up and down mountains while spotting bulls in faraway clearings and moving quickly and quietly to close the distance. We hunted hard, but just couldn’t get within fifty yards. As we hiked out of the woods during the dim light of dusk on that second day, we were startled by a nearby bugle in a thick patch of pines. My guide quickly positioned me behind a tree and then backed off to begin calling.
The next ten minutes of the hunt were awesome. As I stood alone between my cow-calling guide and the bugling bull, my hands and knees were trembling uncontrollably, and my heart was beating out of my chest. I was experiencing my first full-blown case of elk fever — and it was glorious. When the bull stepped into the open, he was just twelve yards away.
After the shot, my guide quickly returned and asked me how big the antlers were. I told him the bull was of legal size — and that was all that mattered to me. I hadn’t come to New Mexico for antlers; I was there for the hunt of a lifetime — and that’s exactly what I got. That was my personal truth. What I saw in the mirror and what I experienced on the ranch matched perfectly. I was at peace with myself, and my heart was full. To this day, a small set of four-by-four elk antlers hang on my wall — a trophy to me, and to no one else.
That roadside elk sported a massive rack, and some hunters would gladly take that shot. That’s because their personal truth is different than mine. Maybe they are physically challenged, or they’re down to the last hour of their hunt. Their mirror would reveal a different core truth, and I wouldn’t blame them one bit for pulling the trigger.
Personal truth is fully subjective. As Marguerite Wolfe Hungerford aptly observed, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” An ancient proverb says, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
Personal truth is powerfully liberating, but like communal truth, it cannot defy universal truth. The law of gravity is true regardless of what your mirror is telling you, and if you decide to defy gravity, you will suffer consequences that lead to bondage.
What is your mirror telling you? Are you living peacefully with the core truth it reveals, or are you pretending to be someone or something you’re not? If you’re pretending, then you’re living a conflicted life. Doing so is frustrating and exhausting. My friend, only the truth can set you free. It’s time to take a close look in the mirror.
