The Authentic – A New Year Resolution Challenge

I have a challenge for you. A challenge that will take up the whole of next year. Are you up for it?

This blog is based upon our tales of our authentic knowledge. Authentic knowledge is what we might call “first hand” knowledge – information that is obtained through our experience of the world. In contrast, I want to counter-pose that against the lack of value that inauthentic knowledge provides. Inauthentic knowledge is knowledge that has been given to us or which we have obtained from sources without us having tested it.

Let me give you an example of inauthentic knowledge. The compression ratio of a piston in a Suzuki GSX 600cc 2003 registered motorcycle is 12:2:1. This can be tested empirically. Now, not a lot of people know that – perhaps even less care about that knowledge. But the real question of its authenticity is this: how many people have directly experienced that “fact”? How many people in the world have actual, direct, evidential experience of what the figure means and have personally proved it? A handful maybe. Everyone else has based their knowledge on the assumption that someone else has tested that fact.

Now, I am not saying that the ‘factual’ knowledge is not true. It may be true, and in terms of motorcycle construction, it possibly has to be true. But how much actual use is that knowledge to you, now, in your life, to help you with your search for truth and wisdom? It is utterly meaningless, even if you own a Suzuki GSX 600 motorcycle.

What is the true value of such knowledge? It’s value lies in the assumption of its truthfulness, and subsequent work can be done on that basis. This is the way we work with most of our knowledge – we work upon a pyramid of assumptions that other people have done the verification for us. With so much ‘knowledge’ around us we argue that we ‘have to’ work like that – it’s simply more efficient. That society functions more efficiently when we work in that way. Maybe so, for the everyday and the mundane aspects of our life. When it comes to the spiritual aspects, though, then we have no excuses for not finding out for ourselves.

Let me contrast that meaningless knowledge with an authentic piece of knowledge. If I stand in a small circle of grass that is two feet inside the opening of the Moel Ty Uchaf stone circle I can feel a bubbling of subtle energy through my body which is instantly refreshing and invigorating. Value? To me – greatly valuable. To anyone else who tests it out and finds it to be the same – also valuable.

Why valuable? For several reasons. Firstly, it can also be tested, but not just by one or two people using specialised equipment. It can be tested by anyone who wants to walk up to the circle and stand in that spot. It is valuable to those whose energy fields need invigorating, replenishing. It is valuable to those who believe it would be so.

This blog is filled with authentic knowledge gained by direct experience, And the test of it is that you don’t have to believe us, nor should you. You should take the experience we describe and you should try it out for yourself. Some of it you will find useful, some of it helpful, most of it will be quite spiritual in terms of a general description of the experience. That is what we’re all about – increasing and dispersing spiritual benefit through authentic knowledge.

My challenge to you this year? Forget those useless facts. Let someone else go chasing them and recording them. Your impossible mission, should you choose to accept it for the next year, is to go in search of the authentic knowledge. Feel free to report back how this changes your perspective on life, how it changes your spiritual practice, and how it might affect your relationship with Nature.

Happy New Year!