Nights in Sedona, in the mountains of Arizona, are cold in autumn. Starry Song, the shaman who had the gift of sharing the ancestral wisdom of his people through words and songs, turned off the porch lights so we could talk under the inspiration of a sky full of stars. I wrapped myself in a blanket to keep warm; the shaman filled the red stone stummel of his unmistakable pipe with tobacco. The conversation would be long. I needed to understand the precise application of truth. Although I knew that virtues and truth were sources of balance and strength when applied correctly, misunderstanding the truth could lead to the misuse of virtues by enveloping them in shadows. “The understanding of life cannot be reduced to a single equation,” said Starry Song as he exhaled from his pipe, marking the beginning of that night’s dialogues. I disagreed. I argued that we could define love as both the path and the destination, without which the meaning of life would drain away into the gutters of passing days. The shaman raised his eyebrows and reflected: “To affirm that love should guide not only our actions but also our thoughts and feelings is an impeccable concept.” Then he added: “However, experiencing love has levels, nuances, and subtleties. Everyone loves, to a greater or lesser degree. Even wrongdoers love their children, relatives, or pets. No one is completely devoid of this vital feeling. However, learning to love more and better is the art of life; this school where we learn is also the workshop where we must put into practice what we have been taught. We are not what we know, but the exact measure of what we do.”
He took another puff from his pipe and continued: “Yes, without a doubt, love is the backbone of life. However, like any metric or journey, this backbone has stages. The same is true for truth. Love needs wisdom to evolve; in turn, wisdom without love manifests in situations where knowledge is used to justify selfishness, mistakes, and malice. The same applies to truth. Virtues are the meeting points of love and wisdom, guiding the traveller through light with grace and ease. However, virtues lose their usefulness when detached from truth; full sails are of no use if a stormy night hides the stars that serve as our guide. The chances of heading in the wrong direction are enormous. That is when it’s time to lower the sails, drop anchor, and wait; one must talk to the silence and the stillness until the fog dissolves”. He paused before concluding: “On the other hand, for those who can already see the stars, even when hidden beneath thick layers of clouds, not even the treacherous winds of storms can prevent the necessary advances through the seas of difficulties. On the contrary, the gales will propel them even faster toward an unexpected yet safe destination”. I asked if virtues were the sails, with truth being the rudder of the vessel that we are. Starry Song nodded in agreement and added: “Throughout time, the world provides winds and tides through our relationships and daily events, facts and situations that, contrary to what many believe, bear no responsibility for the success of the journey. The crossing advances to the next stretch every time the traveller matures a little more of the truth within themselves.”
I argued that, although the topic was far from exhausted, we had already spoken plenty about virtues in previous conversations. It was time to understand a bit more about truth. Before we began, I asked how he defined truth. The shaman did not evade the question: “It is the last frontier reached by consciousness”. I realized that perception and sensitivity, central pillars of consciousness, change with every lived experience. Therefore, truth expands in exact proportion to consciousness, making it infinitely mutable. Starry Song explained: “Exactly. That is why the relentless pursuit of truth leads us to infinite inner transformations, enabling us to better adapt to each new perspective, thus becoming the foundation of evolution. The meaning of life.”
At that moment, we were surprised by the arrival of Anakin, the son of a close friend of Starry Song. He was welcomed with joy and invited to sit with us on the porch. The young man, around thirty years old, had come to speak with the shaman at his father’s request. Some recent events had turned his previously balanced and serene life upside down. He needed to understand what had happened, or rather, the causes behind the devastating and inexplicable upheaval in his life.
I knew Anakin. I had been around him many times since his adolescence, at festivities, ceremonies, or even at his father’s house. Since childhood, he had been kind, generous, and fair. Everyone liked him. I recalled that he had left Sedona to study architecture at the University of Phoenix. I did not know many details beyond that, everything else was shared at that moment. While still in college, he had started an internship at one of the country’s most prestigious firms, responsible for large-scale projects such as airports, hydroelectric plants, and museums, known for its bold lines and forms. Upon graduating, he had earned a place on the company’s team of designers through merit. He had a good salary, allowing him a lifestyle above the average for young people his age. He was well integrated into the firm, whose daring architectural designs had always fascinated him. However, he had a secret passion. He wanted to design modern and functional houses and urban buildings, capable of reconciling the space constraints of big cities with excellent quality of life, without neglecting the elegance of his designs. He did not just want to revolutionize the forms of construction but also the way residents interacted with their homes. This passion fuelled his days. Without telling anyone, he moved out of his Phoenix apartment and into a recently purchased house. He had taken on a mortgage to take this first step. In the garage, he set up an architecture studio, there, he planted the seed of his dream, though he had not yet left the firm where he worked. He could not afford to give up his good salary just yet. His first independent project was to design a small neighbourhood school for children with special needs. He worked late at night and on weekends, spending many sleepless nights bent over his drafting table, thinking and rethinking ideas. He created mobility solutions never before imagined. His work received high praise. The fees he earned from this project were reinvested in a beautiful renovation of his studio. This would provide the perfect conditions to attract larger clients. By his calculations, three or four more projects would grant him financial independence, allowing him to leave the firm and dedicate himself full-time to his studio. Life was a calm and sunny ocean; the final harbour was visible on the horizon.
Just like the storms that approach, carried by treacherous winds, everything changed in an instant. At the company where Anakin worked, it was customary to distribute an annual bonus based on the profits earned during the period, proportional to each employee’s position. Since the company had secured good contracts in the previous year, the young man was certain he would receive a significant sum this time. He was counting on the money to finally renovate the part of the house where he lived. The studio was perfect, but the house left much to be desired; he felt embarrassed to welcome clients into the beautiful studio set up in the garage while the house was falling apart. No one would believe in an architect incapable of living in a house that reflected the creative solutions he himself proposed. His home should express the ideas, or at least part of them, that he wanted to implement in his clients’ projects. He planned a beautiful renovation and took out another bank loan to carry out the work. That was when the news arrived that there would be no dividends that year, as the company had to make investments that reduced the profit margin to zero. They explained that these investments would lead to greater profits in the coming periods, from which everyone would benefit even more. For Anakin, there were two problems: the announcement was made on the eve of the bonus distribution date; accustomed to the tradition of dividends, he had taken on financial commitments that he would now struggle to pay. To make matters worse, he learned that the higher-ranking executives had received their bonuses as usual; only the lower-level employees, including the architects, were excluded. He was outraged by the company’s elitist and discriminatory stance. He decided to resign. He didn’t want to work in a place that didn’t respect its employees. That was the truth that guided him. He had learned from his ancestors that the truth is non-negotiable. He made this statement with teary eyes and a raised voice. Starry Song said nothing.
The story continued. Just hours before submitting his resignation letter, his father called, not by coincidence. A father’s intuition told him something was wrong. Anakin explained what had happened and the decision he was about to make. His father asked him to do nothing until serenity was restored in his heart. “Resentment clouds the truth,” was the essence of his advice. His son replied that life speaks through signs, and there was no doubt that these events were a clear sign that it was time to take a big step. The studio was set up; he had everything he needed to begin a new professional cycle. He had secured a contract to design the school; his work had been praised; nothing prevented him from getting more contracts. He had also learned from his ancestors that fear is never a good advisor. He resigned from the company. Contrary to his expectations, he managed to secure only one contract, and a small one at that, which was not enough to cover his debts. After a few months, the bank was threatening to take his house and, consequently, the studio in the garage. He had given up his job; now he was on the verge of losing not just his business but of seeing his dream collapse. Nothing would be left. He admitted he was lost. He had applied his best teachings, yet life had laughed at them and dealt him a cruel blow. He was drifting, lost in a dark night that seemed endless, his sails torn, his rudder broken. He needed help, he admitted.
Starry Song puffed on his pipe, watched the dance of the smoke for a brief moment, and said, “All help is guidance, never execution. I can serve as a lighthouse in the darkness, but I cannot navigate any ship other than my own.” He furrowed his brows and warned, “Question everything I say. If you do not understand it as true, discard it. No one can live a truth they do not comprehend or accept. What my eyes see does not exist for many people; the reverse is also true.” He paused before continuing, “Likewise, do not expect me to tell you what you should do. That will never happen. I will offer my truth; perhaps it will help expand yours, and then you will find your own path and direction from here onward. Or it may serve no purpose at all; there will be no problem if that happens.”
With Anakin’s agreement, the shaman continued, “A fruit is ripe when it has completed its entire evolutionary cycle. While still green, it will taste bitter and fall short of its quality and potential. The same happens with the use of truth; when immature, it can have a sour taste. There is no doubt that truth is non-negotiable, as you stated earlier. It is one of the foundations of balance and strength, essential in building who we are; the exact guidance for the proper application of virtues and the reason for the blossoming of others still in seed form. It is, therefore, indispensable for spiritual growth. Outside of truth, choices are reckless; the source of all destruction due to the imbalance they cause. We become weakened. In an attempt to find strength to rise again, we turn to sources that seem easy and powerful; we drink from pride, vanity, greed, selfishness, and other shadows. We launch ourselves into the skies on a long flight using short wings. The fall is only a matter of time”. He puffed on his pipe and continued, “We drink from the polluted fountain of deception, believing it will quench our thirst for truth. Then, we turn a non-negotiable error into truth. This is the driving force behind the greatest existential mistakes.”
The intelligent Anakin grasped the reasoning effortlessly. Starry Song’s philosophical arc was still unfolding: “You made an important existential move based on an undeniable truth: fear is a terrible counsellor. Without understanding your own feelings, unable to decode your dense emotions, you renamed them to justify an impulse driven by the resentment of not receiving your year-end bonus. You broke something that neither needed to be broken nor was it the right time to do so. By relying on a company tradition, which is far from meaning an obligation on its part to you, you felt entitled to be hurt, or worse, offended. You forgot that obligation is limited to salary; everything else is what overflows from the pot. This year, they decided to acquire new pots; therefore, nothing was left. It is not a matter of right or wrong but of business strategy, which we may agree with or not, but it is the right of the company’s managers. It should never be a reason for resentment or offense. However, that was neither your real need nor your true desire; nor was it part of your actual plans. It was easier to see yourself as a victim of the situation than to have the maturity to admit that you rushed into taking on debt. Resentment is the feeling of intense aversion to a past situation; a painful grievance that may have just or unjust causes, but none of that matters in the face of the distortion and masking of truth that it creates. Resentment turns truth inside out due to a misunderstanding we cannot dismantle; it will remain that way for as long as this heavy emotion dominates us. We construct twisted arguments to blame others for our own limitations; we rename our shadows with the names of virtues to justify an inexistent truth. Confusion and disorder establish a kingdom in our consciousness. We diminish instead of growing”. He shrugged, as if stating the obvious, and said, “Resentment is just as bad a counsellor as fear”.
The back-and-forth motion of the shaman’s rocking chair seemed to match the rhythm of his words: “Finally, another good idea poorly applied: life speaks through signs. Without a doubt, this dialogue is intense, uninterrupted, and extremely valuable. However, interpreting the signs requires the ability to use the exact decoder. Many different eyes are used to read signs. More often than not, we confuse intuition with fear or desire; we speak of courage when, in reality, we are driven by anger; the impatience of immaturity makes us lose the sensibility essential to true courage; we cry out for justice with hearts fuelled by revenge or other obscure motives”. Looking up at the star-speckled sky, he said:
“We speak of disrespect in an attempt to justify our frustrations. Just like us, everyone has the right to say yes or no, to leave or stay.” And he concluded, “Far from me, distant from the truth.” Seeing that the young man did not understand this last sentence, Starry Song explained, “Without knowing who we are, we will know nothing about the truth. Outside the truth, all signs lead to the abyss of existence”.
Anakin argued that the fact that the company had rewarded the directors while denying the same treatment to other employees was a disrespectful act. Starry Song countered, “Even if it was motivated by mere elitism, it is necessary to understand whether the reaction is proportional to the cause. You could have simply approached one of the directors to learn the reasons behind the payment of dividends to some and not others. After listening, reflecting, and, if you deemed it essential, you could have expressed your point of view, always in a kind, calm, and peaceful manner. You would have had that right, as long as you did not arrogantly assume yourself to be the sole holder of morality or truth. Even more importantly, you would have been living your truth without any need for conflict. He could have disagreed, for he, too, has that right, and presented his arguments. Often, when two people disagree, each knows only part of the truth, like the same object seen from different angles. However, the seed of a more complete and robust truth would remain in both their consciousnesses, to germinate when the soil was ready. To unite is the loving act of bringing someone closer to us; without realizing it, we still prefer the arrogance of separation”.
Then, he asked the young man, “Are there positions in the company with salaries and benefits lower than those of the architects?” He answered that the administrative staff earned less than the professionals in the design department. The shaman asked again, “As an architect, did that ever make you want to leave the company?” The young man said no and lowered his head. Anakin was beginning to understand the empty consequences of an immature truth. Starry Song continued, “By resigning, you gave in to resentment under the illusion of standing firm on what you believed to be non-negotiable, without realizing that you were acting out of misconceptions disguised as truth. Even more seriously, you forgot all the good things the company had offered you, how much it had contributed to your professional growth. In reality, you tore yourself apart in an attempt to punish others for the frustration you felt. The fruit was unripe, and the taste was bitter. The decision you made says nothing about the truth, but rather reflects your own misunderstandings, driven by the painful emotions that dominate you”.
A rebellious tear slid down Anakin’s face. The shaman concluded, “There are moments when breaking away is necessary. However, such a decision must come from a serene heart and a clear mind. Any outburst, change in tone of voice, anxiety, or impatience reveals a restless heart acting on an immature truth”.
The young man said he didn’t know what to do; his life was on the brink of chaos, he admitted. Starry Song reflected, “Chaos is a good thing, for it emerges to destroy everything we refuse to deconstruct within ourselves, even when it is about to collapse due to weak foundations. In any case, it is crucial to understand who holds the control of the primordial power.”. Anakin asked what power that was. The shaman explained, “Mastery over oneself. When we do not identify the true foundations of the ideas and emotions that drive us, we make moves that either lead nowhere or cause us to fall. If virtues are the sails and truth is the rudder of the vessel that we are, then thoughts and emotions are the winds and tides we must learn to navigate; otherwise, we will never have control over our ship. The worst storms do not happen in the world, but within hearts fed by immature truths”.
Then, he concluded, “Now is the time to be reborn. To do so, you must return to your essence. Do not forget your gifts and talents; they remain intact. Be humble enough to recognize your mistakes, but also be kind to yourself so as not to mistreat yourself because of them. When used well, mistakes are valuable tools of growth, through which the greatest masters have forged their most transformative lessons. Be grateful for the opportunity. Forgive yourself so that you may be at peace with your heart; remove from your mind any absurd ideas of shame or defeat, for they are nothing more than immature truths. Preserve your light; for that, you need only yourself, the virtues you already possess, and a renewed truth. The path back to essence is the perfect journey of mature balance and serene strength, which you will soon express in the world again.”
We remained silent for a while. Anakin needed time to place those ideas into the compartments of his mind to calm his restless heart. Only then could he free himself from the prison of misconceptions in which he was trapped, tormented by painful emotions that punished him relentlessly. Every reconstruction begins with the maturing of truth and culminates in personal transformation. Moved, the young man thanked the shaman. He had come to understand certain aspects of himself that he had never noticed before, an intrinsic step essential to his rebirth. Starry Song curved his lips into a smile and said, “Blessed are those who uncover a little more of the truth with each passing moment; to them, the gift of rebirth will be granted every day”.
Translated by Cazmilian Zórdic.
