Eight Lectures on Yoga
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93,
I came across this passage today while re-reading Eight Lectures on Yoga:
*It must here be remarked that because of his complete indifference to anything whatever (and that thought is-when you get far enough-only a primary point of wisdom) he is entirely unreliable. One of the most unfathomably dreadful dangers of the Path is that you must trust Mercury, and yet that if you trust him you are certain to be deceived. I can only explain this, if at all, by pointing out that, since all truth is relative, all truth is falsehood. In one sense Mercury is the great enemy; Mercury is mind, and it is the mind that we have set out to conquer. *
What does this mean to you? Does anybody have any insight into this or relatable personal experience? Maybe some explanation of what Crowley means by '...all truth is relative, all truth is falsehood.'
How can something be true and false at the same time???
Happy Venus Day!
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@Frater 639 said
"How can something be true and false at the same time???"
How can it not?
"It's hot today." The truth of that statement depends on one individual's current body temperature, what external temperatures they're used to, expectations, etc. These will differ from person to person. Therefore, for two people standing next to each other, the statement may be true for one and false for the other.
Of course, what I just wrote is only as true as it is false.
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I see your point. But how does this relate to Mercury? More specifically, how does this "truth" of it being hot or cold, have anything to do with danger?
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@Frater 639 said
"I see your point. But how does this relate to Mercury? More specifically, how does this "truth" of it being hot or cold, have anything to do with danger?"
Mercury has always been considered "dual in nature" on almost every parameter.
On the current topic: Mercury corresponds to facts. Facts have no necessary relationship to truth (any more than, say, steak sauce has any necessary relationship to the wine being served, whatever seeming, commonplace correspondence they may seem to have on a given occasion).
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@Jim Eshelman said
"On the current topic: Mercury corresponds to facts. Facts have no necessary relationship to truth."
What would you consider a fact then? Is this a truth that is more or less decided on convenience and believed? How do we know when it is a fact? Is it subjective or objective? Are facts relative too?
EDIT: I guess I'm asking what your definition is of both, or at least the difference between fact and truth...or an example of their relationship, so I can understand more clearly.
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"This sentence is false." This is a word puzzle that demonstrates how something can both be true or untrue at the same time. All is relative, everything becomes true or false at some level.
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@Frater 639 said
"What would you consider a fact then?"
A data unit.
By etymology, a fact would necessarily be true, because it basically means "a thing done." However, in actual usage, the actual truth of the fact is irrelevant to it being a fact. For example, an allegation is one type of fact.
"EDIT: I guess I'm asking what your definition is of both, or at least the difference between fact and truth...or an example of their relationship, so I can understand more clearly."
Truth is authenticity. (Or, there are different layers of truth according to [say] the Four Worlds, e.g., truth is actual in the World of Action.) Facts are neither necessarily true, nor (especially!) always used in the support of truth.