A Taste of Triangulating Truth
I recognize that the Way weaves me, even as I weave it, and I choose how I participate.
The First Discipline of Sovereignty
We embrace Life as our most sacred container: completely inclusive and fully participatory. We call the unfolding of this inclusive, participatory embrace “the Way.” To Weave the Way requires a deep intimacy with life as it enfolds us and unfolds from us.
This page is a guided meditation that invites you to engage directly with one of our foundational practices for cultivating this intimacy with integrity and coherence: Triangulating Truth.
Three Centers with Truths
First, let us reflect and connect with each center in our experience.
As you read these descriptions:
- Identify the qualities of each center.
- Notice which are easy to separate and which are difficult.
- Explore how the three centers claim your attention in turn.
- Recognize that they influence each other moment by moment.
The Mind
The mind is the center of thoughts in all their forms. Thoughts are the most detailed and distinctive form of meaning-making available to human consciousness. Their primary function is to help us navigate our world:
- Thoughts are detailed in their attempt to make precise and clear interpretations of our life experiences.
- Thoughts are distinctive because they slice and dice experience into clearly defined, separate things.
- Thoughts are forms of meaning-making; they do not reflect experience as it is, but our assessment of what our experience means.
When tapping into the Mind center, consider the following questions:
- What do I know?
- What do I think?
- What is my opinion?
- What possibilities can I imagine?
The Heart
The heart is the center of emotions, which are subtle, generalized, and complex forms of rapid-response pattern recognition. Their primary function is to provide the necessary energy forces to move us as we survive in our world.
- Emotions are subtle: difficult to sense clearly, complex in their distinctions, and layered in their expression.
- Emotions are generalized because they convey only a force of energy that is easy to apply indiscriminately across many aspects of our experience.
- Emotions are complex forms of rapid-response pattern recognition via the nearly immediate, unconscious attribution of survival-related significance to our experience.
When tapping into the Heart center, consider the following questions:
- What emotion am I experiencing?
- love <> indifference
- equanimity <> anger
- excitement <> boredom
- ease <> fear
- joy <> sadness
- desire <> disgust
- What do I really care about?
- What would create harmony and connection?
The Body
The Body is the center of perception, making it a physical analog to the non-physical activity of the Mind and Heart. Any thought or emotion can be perceived in the body, and any bodily experience can generate thoughts and emotions. The physical system is like a hard drive that supports the software of our thoughts and emotions.
When tapping into the Body Center, consider the following questions:
- What information is available to my senses?
- What sensations am I perceiving in my body?
- What are my instincts telling me?
- YES!
- NO!
- What actions have I taken?
- What actions will I take?
Take a Walkaround
Now that you have identified each center’s characteristics, you are ready to begin the inquiry process we call a “walkaround.” Your job is to take on the role of an investigator or cross-examiner, listening carefully to each center, asking questions, and finding your coherent truth.
Identify a Purpose of Inquiry
What our centers reveal in a walkaround is determined by our purpose. Take your time to identify the truth you are looking to triangulate in exact, precise language.
Compare these two purposes.
“Why do I feel so frustrated by my job?”
VS.
“I know I have a passion for my work, and yet every morning I struggle to get motivated to go. What is it about going to my job that I don’t like?”
Can you see how the second purpose frames a contrast (passionate yet demotivated) and seeks a specific truth (what don’t I like) while the first remains broad and unfocused, allowing multiple possible interpretations?
A strong question is specific, answerable by information available to all three centers, internally directed, and open-ended.
Witness the Dialogue
Earlier, you familiarized yourself with each center. Take your time now to “listen” to each one and to how the others respond to what it expresses. As you witness the Mind, Heart, and Body, notice where information is coming from, what the thoughts, emotions, or instincts imply, and begin to cross-examine them.
As the inquirer, clarify things like:
- How does the Mind’s interpretation interact with what the Body is signaling and the Heart is feeling?
- Where does the Heart’s desire for a different reality distort or ignore what the Mind knows or override the Body’s intelligence?
- Where does the Body resist what the Heart wants, or go along unwillingly with the Mind’s decision?
Take your time. Allow the dialogue to reveal a deeper purpose to your inquiry and refine your understanding as you “walkaround” the centers.
Triangulate the Truth
Now, given all three centers:
What is the most accurate statement you can make about this situation?
Not what you wish were true, what paints you in the best light, or smooths over unacceptable situations. Remember, you’re not deciding what to do at this point, you’re only trying to make the truest statement available to you.
What is true across body, heart, and mind?
At first, you may want to ramble out loud or stream of consciousness write. But then distill that content into a paragraph. Then condense and clarify everything down into a couple of sentences. As you do, keep listening and cross-examining your centers to refine your position in relation to your purpose.
Finally, make every word count and cut away all the imprecision that you can until your truth emerges in a single sentence. This accurate self-knowledge is what we call “integrity.” From a position of integrity, you’ll likely surprise yourself by clearly stating something that seems painfully obvious even if unexpected.
Congratulations! You just Triangulated Truth.
Take a moment to check in with your centers again. You may feel a sense of settled self-assurance and ease as Body, Heart, and Mind come into coherence.
If this was difficult for you, don’t worry. It is for everyone at first. With disciplined effort over time, accelerated by guidance, you will develop remarkable proficiency in maintaining your integrity and coherence in real-time. However, this is just the beginning…
I maintain the integrity, coherence, order, and alignment of sovereignty through the Spiritual Disciplines.
The second discipline of sovereignty
Items marked with an asterisk are under construction