Right To The Core

The Apostles' Creed begins, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth...".  Do I believe that?  Yes, I do.  To me it is truth.

So began my list of the things in which I believe.  Like the list of the things I love, it is a work in progress.  Some of the things on the list I will share here; others are too private.

Making a list of the things one believes isn't as easy as it sounds.  Oh, it's easy to say you believe the sky is blue. Is it?  Or is it refraction of light?  Is the bay water as blue as it in July, or is it truly grey, as it is in November?  Are clouds white and cotton-ball fluffy?  Not always.  Sometimes they are black with storm or pink with sunset.  Which is true?

The things I believe in must be worth defending, or they are just words.  They must be the truth for my eyes only.  Someone else will surely see a different truth.

You might argue that point, saying that truth is truth is truth.  Not so, says this newly wise woman.  There is a difference between truth and fact.  It is a fact that humans breathe air.  If someone says that humans breathe oxygen, that is true. BUT--and here is the caveat--we also breathe nitrogen, hydrogen and a myriad of chemicals in our air.  Parsing, I know.  Is it a fact that Democrats or Republicans know the right way to run Washington?  It is true to those who hold those particular beliefs, but it is not fact.

You may be in love.  It is your truth.  It is no less true, even if he does not return your affection.  It's a different truth for him.  To you, he is the love of your life; to him, you are just another body on the carousel.  The only fact here is that you exist in the same world.

It is a fact that I weigh X number of pounds (quit asking; I am not telling) and that my basement looks like a tornado hit it.  But what is the truth?  That is what I need to decide.  Am I less of a person because of these facts?  Or is it the truth that I am who I am in spite of them?

The truth is how you look at it.  The facts may be quite different.

The beliefs that I write about will be my core.  As Pilates strengthens my physical core, my defense of my beliefs will strengthen my spiritual one.

Like the discovery that the real me is a multitude of personalities, the beliefs may morph from time to time if the facts change.  I won't apologize for that.  We make our decisions based on the information we have at the moment.

In the meanwhile, when I share my truths with you, I promise to be honest, right to the core.