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YIN DOLMAH 1 YIN DOLMAH

YIN DOLMAH 2 TRUTH Sometimes, I wish I could set a trap and capture this thing called truth, and lock it up in a bottle like I do with the juice from my freshly squeezed oranges. I am yet to come across a man or woman who did not express their desire and love for that which we call truth. Great wars have been waged and many have perished in battle because they believed in their hearts they were on the side of truth. Does truth exist to serve a purpose or is truth wholly independent and unaffected by any purpose; whether that purpose be worthwhile or otherwise? Does truth evolve or is it unchangeable? Is truth affected by motive or is it unaffected by intent? These questions have bedeviled me greatly for much of my life. I have traveled the world and exposed myself to many cultures and traditions hoping to better understand this thing we call truth. In my quest for truth, I once came across an old woman in Brazil named Mariah. This old woman was greatly revered by all who knew her in the land. She was respected for her wisdom and ability to understand complex matters regarding humanity. I posed to her the same question regarding truth. She smiled and asked me if I ever considered time, and the relationship time had with truth? The old woman asked me, “does time change Yin?” to which I replied in the affirmative. The old woman gently retorted: I beg to differ. I do not believe time changes.

YIN DOLMAH 3 Events change. It is what we do with time that changes. Not time itself. We measure the interval between changing events and refer to those measurements as time. Yin, the same time which existed at the beginning of the universe exists unchanged today. No one knows what time is in its true form. No one has ever seen time or touched it. No one has ever felt it in his or her hands. However, we are witnesses to different events which take place within time and that is what we measure and refer to as time. Time provides us the resource which permits unique events to occur within space. How is that related to truth? Just as time is unchangeable, so is truth. Just as time is unchangeable except what we do with it, so truth is unchangeable except what we do with it. Just as none of us will ever have a full grasp of time; just as we are all accorded little glimpses, just as we experience aspects as they relate to time, so none of us will ever know truth in its fullness. Everyone experiences time in a different manner even though time is unchangeable, and so will everyone experience truth in their own unique and personal way even though truth is unchangeable. The old lady told a story to highlight what she wanted to explain to me regarding truth.

YIN DOLMAH 4 She told me about a great painter in medieval Europe who was commissioned to paint the portrait of the last supper of Jesus Christ and his disciples. The painter decided to find thirteen men to serve as models for his painting. One model was supposed to represent Jesus Christ while the other twelve models would represent his twelve disciples. The painter expected his models to have physical features which closely resembled each of the men he was going to represent in his painting. Finding the right models proved to be the hardest part of the painter’s work. He searched for several weeks until one day, he encountered a young man in church whose appearance was a perfect fit for what he imagined Jesus would have looked like. The painter went on to find other models whose appearances matched what he imagined was a true reflection of each of the disciples. The painter found models for every disciple except one. He could not find a model who perfectly fit his conceptualization of Judas Iscariot. The painter imagined Judas, the traitor who sold his friend Jesus for a few pieces of silver to those who sought to harm him; would have an appearance which immediately evoked the imagery of wickedness. The face of Judas was supposed to scream ‘greed and betrayal’. A decade after the painter was commissioned to paint the last supper, he still had not come across the man who perfectly fit his profile of Judas Iscariot.

YIN DOLMAH 5 One day, while visiting a prison, the painter came across a prisoner whose eyes immediately reminded him of Judas. The man’s face bore the exact look the painter imagined for the traitor and which had eluded him for a decade. The painter was granted permission to use the prisoner as his final model for his painting of the last supper. The painter worked for days with his model making sure to capture every feature on his face, so no detail was lost. As he painted the image of the prisoner, the painter noticed a change in the prisoner’s demeanor. The man had an uneasiness about him and seemed to be greatly bothered by something. The painter noticed the uneasiness of the prisoner was getting worse each passing day, so he stopped painting and asked the prisoner what it was that bothered him so much. The prisoner was in uncontrollable tears as he screamed: “I was your model for Jesus Christ ten years ago!” Yin, why am I telling you this story? What is the relationship between this story and truth? the old woman asked me. I tell it to you because what was true regarding the model at the beginning of the painting project was still true ten years later, but the application of that truth ten years later would not have worked the same way it did at the beginning of the painting project. While I was still trying to marinade the old woman’s story regarding the last supper, she continued to hammer home her point regarding truth. Consider this statement, Mariah continued as she wrote something on a piece of cardboard.

YIN DOLMAH 6 “YOU SHALL GO YOU SHALL RETURN NEVER IN WAR SHALL YOU PERISH” She handed me the piece of cardboard and asked me to interpret what she wrote. I looked at it carefully and I told her it meant the recipient of the message would go to war and return safely with no harm coming their way. Mariah looked at me and said “your interpretation is right based on where you put your punctuation.” She wrote two sentences on another piece of cardboard and handed the cardboard to me. The two sentences she wrote were: “YOU SHALL GO YOU SHALL RETURN, NEVER IN WAR SHALL YOU PERISH” “YOU SHALL GO YOU SHALL RETURN NEVER, IN WAR SHALL YOU PERISH” As I looked at the two sentences she wrote, she asked me if they meant the same thing. I responded, “no. The first sentence means the subject will return safely from war while the second statement meant the subject would perish in war.” True, the old woman retorted. That is what truth looks like. Truth comes to us in an unchangeable manner just as the statement I wrote for you.

YIN DOLMAH 7 What truth does is, it presents us with a punctuation, and it is our job to figure out where to put that punctuation so that the unchangeable truth becomes our individual and personal truth. Love, and an open mind are the punctuations truth presents us. If we act in love and with an open mind, we will often find that we place the punctuations exactly where they need to be so that our personal truth is in perfect alignment with the unchangeable truth. Any other considerations other than love and an open mind will likely lead to misplacement of the punctuation which the unchangeable truth provides us. Misplacement of the punctuation, will most likely place our personal and individual truth out of alignment with the unchangeable truth. How then do we handle truth so that we do not create unnecessary strife and wreak havoc on ourselves in the name of ‘defending the truth’ like we have done for millennia? What have we done with time to avoid conflicts and wars in the name of time that we have failed to do with truth to prevent chaos and bloodshed in its name? We created two things for time: Calendars and watches and they work great for us. I am not aware of too many wars that have been fought in the name of time. The reason being, as long as each person follows what the watches and calendars stipulate, there is agreement the world over even though ‘time’ and dates are different everywhere you go in the world. Have we created anything for truth to keep us from getting at each other’s throats as we have with time? We do not need a new invention. We already have the tools.

YIN DOLMAH 8 Truth has already presented us with the two pieces of equipment needed to serve the same purpose watches and calendars do for time. The problem is we do not use them the same way we use our watches and calendars. Why we do not use them baffles the living breath out of me. The two tools are: 1. Love: Do all things with pure love and you will operate in truth. 2. Open mindedness: Approach all things with an open mind, casting away all filters and preconceived notions and you will operate in truth. That is the truth. Do you have any further questions? The old woman asked me. I looked at her, greatly impressed by her wisdom. I was speechless. After a moment, I answered, “no, no further questions.” I thanked her and as I turned to walk away, something struck me, so I turned around and asked the old woman a question; I enquired of her, “if truth is so elusive, should we then never try to seek it?” “Great question,” she answered.

YIN DOLMAH 9 “If I may add my own little take on truth, the search for truth is desirable and I have come to find out based on my own experience that we tend to go far and wide in search for the truth only to find out the whole time, truth was staring us in the face and yet we conveniently refused to recognize it. . Sometimes, because of traditions and culture which provide us a safe haven from truth. Truth is no respecter of persons, does not have any favorites and will come to you in the form of your neighbor who you hate passionately or come to you in the form of a sibling who makes you angry whenever you see him. If we use the second tool truth has presented us, which is: ‘Approach all things with an open mind’, we will more quickly identify truth when we see her,” she concluded. May we operate with love and an open mind in everything we do so we might get close to the truth in all our endeavors.