Here is a story for you. How you find its meaning within you is the point of it all:

Once, Truth and Falsehood met at a crossroads. After they greeted each other, Falsehood asked Truth how the world was treating him.

“How goes it with me?” Truth said. “Each year is worse than the last.”

“I can see the plight you are in,” said Falsehood, glancing at Truth’s ragged clothes. “Why, even your breath stinks.”

“Not a bite has passed my lips these three days,” said Truth. “Wherever I go, I find trouble—not only for myself, but for the few who still love me. This is no way to live.”

“You have only yourself to blame,” Falsehood told him. “Come with me. You’ll see better days, dress in fine clothes like mine, and eat plenty. Your only condition is that you must not contradict anything I say.”

Truth consented, just this once, to go and eat with Falsehood because he was so hungry he could hardly stand upright. They set out together and soon came to a great city. They went into the finest hotel, which was full of people, sat down, and ate the very best food.

When several hours had passed and most of the guests had gone, Falsehood rapped his fist on the table. The hotelkeeper himself came up to tend to them, for Falsehood looked like a great nobleman. The host asked what they desired.

“How much longer am I to wait for the change from the sovereign I gave the boy who sets the table?” Falsehood demanded.

The host called the boy over, who protested that he had received no sovereign. At this, Falsehood grew angry and began to shout, saying he never would have believed such a fine hotel would rob its guests. He added that he would remember this treatment in the future, and threw a sovereign at the hotelkeeper.

“There,” he said. “Bring me my change.”

Fearing his hotel would get a bad reputation, the hotelkeeper refused to take the second sovereign. Instead, he gave Falsehood change for the disputed first coin and boxed the ears of the boy who claimed he could not remember taking it.

The boy began to cry, protesting that he had never touched the sovereign. When he saw that no one believed him, he sighed deeply and said, “Alas, where are you, unhappy Truth? Are you no more?”

“No, I am here,” Truth muttered through clenched teeth, “but I had not eaten for three days, and now I am forbidden to speak. You must find the right of it by yourself; my tongue is tied.”

When they stepped outside, Falsehood burst out laughing and said to Truth, “You see how I contrive things?”

“I see that It is better that I should die of hunger,” Truth said, “than do the things you do.”

With that, they parted forever.

Yes, they parted forever!

Those I work with frequently derail their own lives by listening to the “falsehoods” of hope and desire urged by their genetics. They rarely speak the truth about their lives because they are suspicious and afraid to realize how truly convoluted they are. Instead of seeking a cure, they apply a “spiritual” philosophy like a Band-Aid over a deep gash, pretending it will heal while their life force pours out.

Many students are simply “ill”—imprisoned by the duality of thought and a craving for more. They side-path their practice by hunting for a “cheaper” or less invasive method that won’t interfere with their endless pursuit of “happy” and “fun.”

The reactions to truth are predictable:
• When I identify what is “killing” their lives, they ignore me.
• When I explain how their actions affect their future, they laugh.
• When I show them the cruelty of their behavior toward loved ones, they are insulted.
• When I reveal their true motives, they hate me.

Chances are, you are a side-pather, too. You may call it “being practical” or claim that the Way is “impossible,” but deep down, you know the truth.

Many are so hard-hearted and ensconced in fear that they succumb to their genetics, repeating the same lives as their forefathers. This is why being a “minister” is easier than being a teacher. A minister merely tells a congregation what to believe, while a teacher reveals a person’s blind side to lead them back to their Heart.