Congressional Hearings on Impeachment - Light and Darkness, and discerning Truth

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The US House Committee hearings on Impeachment: how do we navigate and discern, truthseeking from falsehood?

I listened to significant portions of the House Intelligence Committee and the Impeachment inquiry - testimonies of the witnesses, and ways Congresspeople spoke about the evidence and testimonies. Toward the end of the hearings, I listened carefully to a Congressperson who seemed to me to draw on much that was true, but also in important ways made statements that were untrue. Because so much of truth was woven in, it was tempting to be swept into therefore believing the whole of this Congressperson's conclusion. This person also spoke with a cadence of conviction, and a dismissal of conclusions to the contrary with a kind of low-level moral outrage as if claiming a moral or ethical high ground.

Had I not been tracking much of the witnesses' testimonies - and so been able to decipher what was and wasn't true about what this Congressperson said - I might have been swept into doubting valid conclusions about wrongdoing, and giving credence the this person's conclusions that I believe were undue.

This article by Guruji-Ma, addresses this issue directly - it is called The Serpent Power.  (Note: this is a strong article, so keep that in mind as you read. Not also, that it refers to ways that people can be caught up by forces larger than ourselves, which are not us, but that we can be affected by, whether known or unbeknownst to ourselves).

I sought to listen to some of the hearings with these perspectives in mind and heart, and found this very helpful to dispel that which seeks to cloud the truth. With heart and mind more attuned, and paying attention more deeply, I could more clearly separate truth from untruth. (The Spanish words for 'light' and 'darkness' are 'luz' and 'obscuridad'; I find it useful to think of 'to obscure' as what 'darkness' does, obscures what is true).

Of great importance - lest we are tempted to point the finger at any one individual or group, or worse to attack anyone: it is essential to not judge anyone. In words of Jesus "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." But, we can seek to be alert to where we ourselves, or others, depart from truth.

I kept thinking about metaphors - for a seemingly logical argument, or a point of view with emotional charge, that also has falsehood and deception or self-deception also mixed in. I found myself thinking about a ladder that may appear to be sturdy, but if even one of the rungs on the ladder are false or faulty and do not hold, then the ladder is not true, and the conclusion at its top cannot be reached. Or each part of an argument like beads woven on a necklace - the beads of truth may shine, but the beads of falsehood show clearly and affect the truth of the whole.

There is a beautiful prayer by Guruji-Ma - a prayer for all who suffer, in the world - and for all no matter where each one is in our current states of awareness.

Here is the link to the prayer.

I have also included the prayer below
Blessings.

PRAYER

Pray for the children who grow up in a world
where death is at the doorstep.

Pray for the families who build their lives and
homes with hope in mind, only to be uprooted.

Pray for those whose lives have been overturned,
who do not know where to live or how to live.

Pray for those who risk death itself, holding only
the dream of a new land just ahead and a new hope.

Pray for those who are asleep to the suffering
of the world, who know only their own heartache.

Pray for those whose hearts are cold, who have
lost the belief in the possibility of love.

Pray for all whose minds and hearts are co-opted
by darkness, who seek instead of love, the victory
of their own false beliefs and their own false edicts.

May all be held in the arms of prayer.
May all be held in the arms of love.