Who and what To trust? I know I can trust my cat. He knows exactly what he wants, when he wants it, and has no problem letting me know. I appreciate his forthrightness even though I’m often unable to figure out his motives. I can definitely depend on him and his friends to do cat things. They are cute and adorable and exhibit contented feline behavior. There is nothing better than a full bowl of…

Enforcing boundaries is hard sometimes. Enforcing boundaries with people you love is harder still. 

You want to believe they would never knowingly hurt you, that whatever boundary they are crossing they cross in the name of some valiant effort. 

But when does the boundary-crossing become too much? When do you say no? If you always say yes, they will never believe you capable of saying no. 

And when you finally do, when you finally stand up for yourself, they will beg and plead that you let them back in. They will try and push you to give in again. And you will waver. 

But you MUST stand up for yourself, for who you are, for who you want to become. 

You cannot let them continue to push your boundaries aside because you love them. 

To best appreciate why this writing is called ” Gardener of the Soul”, it is important to know exactly what is a Gardener? By definition, a gardener is described as being a caretaker, a nurturer. In addition to that definition, a gardener is one ‘who loves participating in the process of growth.’ This love must be deeply rooted, because a successful or skilled gardener loves everything about…

What is truth? There is that which is self truth, and that which is universal truth as well as divine truth. Bare-boned, truth itself is a word defined by something that we hold to be constant, something that is acclaimed by the inner senses as “right” or a statement which the human conscience would condone under even the most dire of plights. 

Self truth, defined simply, is what one considers to be true by his or her ideals and by his or her perception. However, an individual’s self truth may change over time as well, including that of his or her train of thought, depending on what circumstances may befall him or her. The core inner self truths, however, are formed during childhood, and, in a Freudian sense, can be deemed as unchanging and constant. Despite what chances may befall a person, in the midst of anxiety and plight, that inner self truth formed from an early age shall behold itself unto the witnesses of a seemingly pedestrian happening. For instance, if a child were to be positively encouraged throughout his childhood, he may perhaps hold the self truth that he or she is intelligent and charismatic. In retrospect, however, a child may also be negatively reinforced by his teachers or perhaps classmates that he or she is an aggressor at school. But as time goes on, the competitive spirit may be altered and the people around the person may instead say he or she is a successful visionary leader. The self truth of being an aggressor (a label) would then become visionary leader. Self truth, then, it would seem to be a fluid process, rather than a single object of constancy as truth is perceived. 

Universal truth, then, hopefully is something that is constant. In almost every culture, universal truths are used to prevent chaos but seem to be instilled in us as children and perhaps even before birth. It is these truths which are indoctrinated to us all and applied that define humanity as a whole. For example, helping others in need, saving a person from death, treating others with kindness are considered good and moral in universal truth. In contrast, sleeping with your own family (incest), murder with malicious intent i.e. out of covetous heart for a neighbor’s possession or happiness, or stealing are agreed to be evil and immoral per universal truth. These universal truths are found also in almost all religions which exist on earth. Yet, one has to wonder how the universal truths have come to be defined. Rather, it should be pondered upon how all religions seem to agree on these universal truths. For is it the core of humanity which defines the universal truth or the universal truths which define man? And if so, what would man be if he had not been indoctrinated with such truths at a young age? Would he or she be mentored then by his or her conscience and still make good moral decisions which would help rather than hurt the people around him or her? I believe in the goodness of mankind, that deep within the human, we all have the goodness in our hearts to love and to care for others. It is that which has allowed mankind to thrive and flourish, aside from our intellect and ability to communicate well to succeed. Had we not had such universal truths which we hold evident through our survival, the race of mankind would have been driven to extinction long before. Yet, it is the core of universal truths which stay constant, so is close to the core of mankind. Thus, truth itself, a marker, has shown that this is how mankind has survived. It allowed for a constancy in truths which define man (moral) and differentiated him or her from the other species in this world and is something more stable. 

Finally, we come to a discussion of divine truth. Truth, as we have said, is something that is constant, and considered to be immutable, permanent. Yet, can truth be thus defined by humanity? We have indeed, ourselves crafted a word begs the question itself. The Christians, Jews, and Catholics say that the Word of the Lord is Truth. The Hindus would say the Self is Truth. The Buddhists would say that Truth is something found within, similar to the perception of Hindu teachings. Yet, through all religions, it seems that Truth is not very clearly defined. Thus, it begs the question of the definition of truth, something which we have attempted to define and perhaps even question as well as depict. We know that truth is something unchanging, something constant and good, perhaps. Yet, as humans, we see self truths which change based on perception, and universal truths, which are mostly stable, but may change over time (such as the acceptance of a woman being able to have a successful career), can one truly see a truth which is constant? Such is the case of divine truth, which hearkens us back to the days of our inner being, the motivation for both self truth and universal truth, the power generator to our light bulb of self truth and light bulb of universal truth. Divine truth’s very essence defines the core of all of us, rather than just those in the “right” religion or “way of life”. I see divine truth as the light which shines forth from every human being, a light and a beautiful guiding force for us. However, just as we see light, we can only see the ripple effect of divine truth. We see the effect it has on our daily lives, yet we cannot truly define it, nor can one touch it. It is something felt, something which influences what we truly see.