The Descending Scale of Truth
The illustration above shows a scale that spans the gulf between words and absolute truth.
We designate the top layer as truth, although if we go into finer detail there are many layers within this layer – the truth of the absolute, the truth of world 3, the truth of world 6 and the truth of world 12. Below this we have the layer of understanding. Understanding can be thought of as a particular manifestation of truth in a particular context within a being, such as man or even an animal. For example, most birds have the knowledge and an understanding of how to make a nest.
The next layer down, knowledge, is information stored and preserved for eventual use. For man, knowledge consists of various assertions that are believed to be correct. They become understanding when they are proven by experience to be correct. Information is best thought of as a collection of statements about a given area of study. In total it may be correct, incorrec or a mixture of the two. A great deal of information we encounter nowadays in the media is dubious or entirely incorrect.
While knowledge and understanding can reside only within beings, information can live on paper or on vidoe or sound recordings or on computers.
From The Top Down
In the lower part of this scale, information comprises statements which are constructed from words, which are the atoms of meaning. That breakdown applies to the intellectual center. There are parallel lower layers that acquire knowledge. The three lower centers, the intellectual, the emotional and the moving center are all organs that can and do digest knowledge. These are quite different dimensions of knowledge which often need to integrate their experience to generate understanding.
The Work refers to knowledge from a higher level as is C influence. Such knowledge is digested by these lower centers to produce understanding. The knowledge has to be used and the consequences observed. In that way understanding is generated. Man combines with esoteric knowledge in order to climb the scale towards truth.
From The Bottom Up
Science can be regarded as an attempt to establish truth from the bottom up, by formulating theories, testing hypotheses by experiment and, from this, reaching a consensus on what in truth is. With Science the truth is treated as a semi-democratic collection of ideas. Science is limited by the substances it is a able to able to examine experimentally with the tools of its trade. It can produce useful results when dealing with solids liquids and gases. But it does not recognize any of the substances that constitute the psychology of man. As such, it is incapable of formulating realistic theories about the structure and processes of the psyche all about the spiritual realm in general.
As suggested by the diagram it is capable of establishing knowledge and understanding in some areas of study – but it goes no further. From the perspective of the Work we are interested in the data the science collects as this can be helpful in understanding the Work. But we have very little interest in the theories of science – particularly in the areas of astrophysics and quantum physics. Occasionally, because of human suggestibility, people in the Work give creedence to some of the assertions and ideas of modern science. This often becomes a barrier to establishing and understanding of the ideas of The Work.