Week of

Truth Part Two

Fundamentally, every one of us feels extremely insecure. You could have lots of money, lots of background, education, friends, resources, skills, but none of that is going to make any difference to your security. The more we seek security, the more insecurity that creates. It constantly happens that way.

There’s something fundamentally threatening and insecure taking place all the time in our lives. Something’s not quite as solid as we would like it to be, so we need lots of reassurance— some philosophy, some idea, some kind of backing from the world of comfort, the world of companionship. There is always hollowness, an emptiness taking place in us always. Basically, we feel we are broke and we have a poverty mentality. Very few people like to face that, but it’s the first truth, one of the very valuable truths to face. It is not really pleasant, and it may not even seem helpful, for that matter. But maybe its unhelpfulness is helpful. There’s always that possibility.

Out of that insecurity, we come up with a lot of strategies, plans of all kinds. We try to combat this insecurity by means of drugs, politics, philosophy, religion, friends. Everybody has tried something. This approach is extremely depressing, but it’s all experience. It’s dharma. In its own way, it is truth. Experience is true; therefore, it’s sacred. What is so sacred about that? Where does sacredness come in? It doesn’t come in the form of religion, as a savior notion. The sacredness is the truthfulness. Truth could be secular but still it’s sacred.

If we don’t face what we are experiencing, then there’s no path. It may be a drag, but you must be willing to face and actually give in to what is happening. Nobody’s going to come up with a fat check for you tomorrow. At this point, believing in miracles is an obstacle. There is great room, on the other hand, for our minds to open, give, and face facts—literally to face the facts: the facts of reality, the facts of pain, the facts of boredom.

Our world, this particular world, our dharma, our truth, needs to be acknowledged and needs immense surrendering—not just a one-shot deal. Without this first dharma, understanding the truth and our relationship to the truth, we could not go further. Finally, you and your world meet and are introduced to one another: “My name is Ms. World.” “Hello, Ms. World. Pleased to meet you.” You shake hands and actually begin to give in. You’re willing to accept your world. You have never done that before.

Commentary on the First Dharma of Gampopa. From Volume 10 of The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa. Published by Shambhala Publications.

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