I don't know if this is the case in the non-Jewish world, but in the Jewish world (in particular, in Breslov), women are compared to Faith and men are compared to Truth.
Well, I sometimes think this is also the case with Black Folks as well. BF are like Faith ,and truth is attracted to Faith.
Unfortunately, there are alot of ugly truths in the world. Many people are haters, they are cruel and hurtful.
If this is true, then no wonder we constantly get bigots in our faces, etc.
So where do we go for Truth, the real good kind? How do we make sure that we, Faith, encounter more often than not, the godly Truth?
Those who light their seven candles with clean, good oil, will have a shining countenance. They will also be able to receive and distinguish godly Truth. Those who think they're about truth will only seek Justice and will despise faith (they'll be attracted to and come to Faith, and yet hate her).
"Justice will be the belt around his waist. Faithfulness will be the belt around his hips." (Isaiah 11:5)
Justice and Faith seem to both go in the same place, a belt around the waist. So what's the difference between the two? According to Rebbi Nachman of Breslov, in his Likutey Moharan, lesson #7, they are both forms of judgements. The difference is that in justice, there is no mercy. Who ever does wrong is punished, ostracized, shamed. Whereas (true) Faith comes from a godly Truth which inserts mercy. Here, whoever does wrong deserves punishment, nevertheless, for the good that has been accumulated by that person, the punishment is reduced. So, mercy is the deciding factor. In the godly Truth there is the element of mercy; in justice there is no room for mercy.
So, if we are Faith and we come across someone who thinks himself righteous and is all about justice, he may say hurtful things because he thinks we deserve it. As opposed to someone who is about godly Truth, and even though if he were to judge, he would see perhaps we have a flaw or two, he would also see our accumulated goodness and come to a Truth which includes mercy. He would see us in a more balanced way.
(This reminds me of the story of Noah. Noah was righteous and just. Meaning, he was okay with the world going down and drowning with minimal protest on his part because he felt they deserve it. They did wrong and their punishment must be metted out. Finished. As long as he and his family could get in that ark and shut the door behind themselves, he was fine. He was so justice oriented, that when his grandson, Canaan did wrong, rather than giving him reparations to do -as God would- instead he cursed Canaan. Compare this to Moses, a humble man. Time and time again he put up with the grievance of the Jewish people. He worked tirelessly to bring everyone to the light of the Holy One, Blessed be He because he had mercy on them all. We can even compare Noah to Abraham who, upon hearing of the eminent destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, pleaded to God, "what of there were 50 good people still in the land? What if there were 40? 30?" and so on and so forth.He cared and showed mercy.)
So, to ask the question differently, How can we, Faith, attract godly Truth more often? Instead of the Noahs of the world, how can we attract the Moses and the Abrahams??
I guess we can only check the candles. Is Mr. Truth's candles bright and shining? Ears. Does he enjoy listening to rantings of bigots and haters? Or does he prefer non-hurtful, pleasant music? Does he listen to positive people? Eyes. Does he read trash? Does his eyes roam? Nose. Does he flare up with anger quickly? Is he forever waiting to "exhale" (i.e. is he always releasing emission on some poor unfortunate girl i.e. is he immoral)? Mouth. Does he lie all the time? Does he speak truth?
That is about as much as we can do. We can't peer into anyone's heart, so we just have to settle for what he consumes and puts out. Through this, hopefully, Faith can meet with Truth and holy sparks will fly!
