Apparent Truths

SAT., NOV. 25, 1995, 6:50 AM
FARM, STUDY

You sit here and await a sunrise, something you’ve seen fairly frequently. There it is. The top rim of the sun, with its brilliance, even through some trees and haze on the horizon. The sun is rising. A new day has begun, one defined by the sun moving across the sky until it finally sets, and you see only that top rim on the horizon, and finally the brilliance is gone. The Scriptures mention sunrises. The term is used in poetry, fiction, and even scientific weather reports. But it’s an “apparent truth” that the sun rises and sets.

From your perspective, the Earth is huge. Its land stretches out, that which you’ve been able to see, in plains, mountain, deserts, forests, tilled fields, and… Some knowledge of geography tells you that there are continents other than your own, some larger, with even greater variety in land. There is much, much land.

And yet the truth is that the Earth is a small planet, with almost 70 percent of its surface covered by water, much of it salty. Then the prime non-apparent truth is that the sun is “fixed” in space, and the Earth turns on its axis, creating this apparent sunrise, and moves around the sun, creating the seasons of more and less cold, green and fallen, dead leaves, and…

Apparent truths are a part of this Earth-scene that I have created. There are some actual truths, but more apparent truths. There also are untruths and apparent untruths. I have allowed humans, even the most brilliant, only certain capacities to know truths and to separate these from the rest. (You are a bit above average, helped in some ways by these Teachings, but also confused when what I tell you doesn’t fit perfectly with cultural truths or, worse, with apparent Scriptural truths. I want you to know, but, in My view, it will be best if your knowledge remains limited.) What are some examples of apparent truths? You have plenty of paper, don’t you?… even if the ink runs out!

The Bible story begins with creation, but there are two stories of this fundamental event that are not consistent with one another. The Truth is that I am the fundamental Creator. The apparent truth is that these two ways are the only alternatives. All that science has discovered and will continue to discover is My Creation, done in ways different from the two Genesis versions, which were quite sufficient for pre-scientific times. Remember that for Biblical folk it was a Truth that the sun rises and sets.

The Bible story tells that I chose a particular group of people to be Mine… My favorites. But even as I chose them and guided them they did not always appreciate this chosenness, and so I had to punish them in various ways… but always affirmed that they were special. It is an apparent truth that this was “the only game in town”… that this was the only civilization on earth, and this was My only interest. The Truth is that there were many other peoples, all part of My Creation and loved by Me.

The David story that you will introduce in your Forum tomorrow, if some “Forumsters” appear, is a microcosm of the total Bible story. David was the youngest son of Jesse, the least in importance in a family of 8 sons. Yet I picked him to be the only successful king My chosen people had. (I said they shouldn’t have a king, but I relented. They only had three. Yet I say to you that a benevolent king is My favorite form of government.) He had successes, in writing psalms, playing the harp, and killing enemies. He wouldn’t kill King Saul, but he got rid of Uriah so that he could have Bathsheba as his wife. I killed their son conceived in adultery, but allowed their next son, Salomon, to be the next, and last king, who built My Temple in Jerusalem. I loved David, despite his imperfections, and yet I was also directing and blessing other human groups on other land areas, encouraging them to see Me in different ways… and also punishing them and loving them.