I don’t know the ultimate truth or the reality. But I am happy to let the mystery remain. Here are some of the things that I seem to know:

The similarities or differences from my beliefs, are not reliable criteria for the ultimate truth or untruth.

If I suspect your beliefs are untrue- just because they are different from mine, or because I am not invested in them as much as you are- I cannot legitimately trust my own beliefs either. When I emphatically claim your belief is false, or rooted in ignorance, I must also remember, that my belief may be equally not true.

I should be able to allow at least a possibility of some truth behind your beliefs, to offer any genuine credibility to mine. This is not about the specific beliefs at all, this is about my attitude towards another’s beliefs. I should be able to respect the possibility of something coming from truth- in what you see- even when it is very different from what I see.

Once I am clear on this, I can move on- from the ten thousand differences between all the religions, cultures, ideologies or countries- to see the ‘One’ truth, that is behind all of them.

This ‘One’ truth, brings me to my belief, which is- One truth, one reality, of all that is. I somehow seem to ‘know’ this. To me, ‘oneness’ of all that is, feels like the only possibility, for truth and reality.

This ‘One’ truth, is the reality of all that is.

I believe the ‘One’ truth or reality, is not restricted to humans. It is the truth and reality of everything that is. It is- absolute, ultimate, consistent, stable, immutable, certain, robust, pure, perfect, real, universal and timeless. But do I really know this?

What is it about the ‘truth’, that makes me so sure, that it can only be ‘One’?

Perhaps, because anything that is not one, will have ‘another’. Then it becomes relative. Where there is ‘another’, there can be a challenge, a tension, a conflict. But truth cannot be challenged, it cannot be in conflict. Truth cannot be relative. Truth cannot be in relation to anything, it is beyond all relationships. The truth by definition is absolute.

So, anything that is not one, cannot be the ultimate truth or reality. It is so obvious to me, and has always been. But if I do not ‘know’ what this truth is, why and how am I still so convinced, that it can only be this way? It can only be one!

This conviction does not seem to come from anywhere outside. It is coming from deep within me, it is something that has always been there, it seems to be the only thing, that I am really sure of, as much as I am sure of my own being and knowing.

If it is coming from the ‘truth’ or ‘the reality’ itself, then it should also be coming to everyone and everything else, not just to me. If everyone else could be so convinced (as I am) of it, then there should not be any human conflicts, in the name of truth or reality!

Obviously, everybody is not so deeply convinced that truth can only be ‘one’. So, is it only my imperceptible conditioning? This is so much a part of me, that I wouldn’t know how to even begin investigating it, this is my bedrock, the centre from which everything else flows!

I am convinced that nobody’s fundamental truth can be different from anybody else’s fundamental truth, because there is only one final ultimate truth. I am convinced that my deepest truth cannot in essence be different from your deepest truth, because there is only one, absolute-universal-ultimate truth. The differences are only superficial.

It is the one same truth and reality we all share. Absolute and universal.

We may take very different paths to it, but we climb in the end, to reach the same mountain peak. There are a million trails all around, each with its separate view, but each leading to this one peak! The views from each separate path can be so drastically different, we may never agree upon anything in common. We could be hiking on opposite slopes of the same mountain, you may see a forest, I might see a lake, we cannot always reach a consensus on the right path. Or the shortest.

The view from this one peak, is an all-embracing, all-permeating, all-pervading circle of wholeness and oneness of all that is. A belief in this ‘one’ truth, feels like the sharp focused centre of my being, and everything else in life and this world, falls somewhere on its vague blurry periphery.

Is this an illusion, like those many other things in my life? Is this merely a beautiful picture, a fantasy, or my imaginary concept of truth? If so, then why am I so convinced of it? Where is this force of absolute certainty coming from?

This conviction helps me look past all the differences we have, this conviction makes me “know” that no matter how different we seem to be- in our appearance, thinking, preferences, habits, views or experiences- we have a shared reality. This shared reality, is the truth behind all our apparent differences. Not just for the humans, but for everything that exists.

The totality of all that is, shares one reality.

Why am I so convinced of this from the very beginning, even before the conditioning or influences around me had a chance or time, to work on my body-mind? I seem to have been born, ‘knowing’ this, and nothing since then, could ever erase, shake or dull this knowing.

I cannot be the only one who seems to ‘know’ this, with such a strong conviction. Am I just fooling myself into this feeling- that everyone, from the depth of the heart, in the core, from the very centre of being, knows this truth? The truth, that there can only be ‘one’ truth. Everyone must know it, just as I know it- because it is our one, same, shared truth!

I have done nothing special to ‘know’ this. It has always been obvious to me! Just as any other plain fact. But shouldn’t it be the same for everyone, if it is everyone’s truth? Shouldn’t we all be convinced, there is just ‘one’ truth?

‘What’ this one truth is, does not even matter- most of us may never know it! I certainly don’t know it.

But knowing that it can only be ‘one’, itself is enough- the oneness of everything, the shared reality of all that has ever been, is, or will ever be! It is enough to leave it at that, accepting the limitations of my thinking mind. Sincerely saying, “I do not know” anything beyond this, anything more about reality! Except, that it is One.

I don’t know, how it feels to really know the truth or reality. I know the many names we have for it, but they are only words- Consciousness, Oneness, Awareness, Truth, Reality, Tao. What is the living breathing experience, of the meaning these words are pointing to? I do not know. I hope, maybe someday it will be revealed to me.

But I am peaceful with my ‘not knowing’. I can allow the mystery to remain. I can let it be, whatever it is. I am not longing to see its face, as long as it has chosen to remain hidden! As long as I know, that it can only be ‘one’. It can only be, One truth. One reality. It can only be alone and absolute. There is no other way, it can be truth or reality of everything!

Then, there is no time, energy or thought spent on exploring the complex incomprehensible mysteries of life- the concepts of mine, yours, theirs, human, non-human, animate, inanimate are all covered with one blanket of oneness. How it all began, where is it going, where does it end, does it eternally continue- none of these mind-boggling questions stimulate me to endless frustration.

So, I am wandering around, hoping to collect more clues about this one truth. Everything else that I understand about myself and the world, points to it, like a million fingers pointing to the one moon. If the truth, the reality is one, same and universal, I can’t be the only one to be convinced- that it is so!

Simply knowing- there is one truth, one reality only, for all and everything, I am already at peace. Mainly because, this I seem to really know. I am convinced that I know this, the rest I do not know. I do not feel inclined to indulge in exploring the complexities of ‘how’ and ‘why’. The intricacies of what is!

For me, it appears sufficient and adequate to know- that there is something rather than nothing, that I am, and I know that I am. The reality of my being-knowing is the same reality, as that of everything else which I perceive. There is only ‘one’ reality of all that is.

That reality is who I am, and what everything else is.

Beyond this conviction, I am willing to allow the mystery to remain, with a sincere- “I don’t really know”, unless I see a clear evidence of something. There is more peace in honestly accepting ‘not knowing’, than in doubting what I think I know.