August 21, 2026
The Merriam-Webster dictionary says:
Certainty means being completely free from doubt or knowing that something is true and bound to happen. It can describe a strong state of mind or a fact that nobody can question.
There are many things I could say I am certain about. For instance, I know that if I put my hand over a flame, it will hurt, that 2 + 2 = 4, and there is much more to life than meets the eye.
There is a distinct difference between faith and belief. We can believe something is true, but until we have tested our beliefs and know them to the core of our being, they remain beliefs. It is through our own experience that belief can transform into faith.
On the spiritual path, as you can imagine, there is a wide range of beliefs. Are extraterrestrials spiritually guiding humanity? Did we choose our parents before birth? Do crystals have specific spiritual energies that can help us?
There are some things that are difficult to have "proof" of, so the best we can do is take them with a grain of salt. There are other truths that have been conveyed by saints and sages who speak from a place of inner wisdom anchored in the Divine. Through our attunement with them, they can reveal truths that we can trust.
Yet the deepest realities that we can feel "certain" about are the ones that have been proven from within. They can come from a sudden intuition or an inner knowing that we perceive in deep stillness.
Once, years ago, I had a long meditation in a small chapel. Afterward, when I stepped outside into the garden, all the flowers, trees, and grass had a radiant glow. All of us have had moments in our lives when we cannot tell you why we know something is true—we just do.
The more we work on ourselves inwardly through practices such as meditation, introspection, and service to others with love, the more we open the doorway to an inner knowing that cannot be taken away from us.
It would be cool if, say, we had highly advanced beings at the center of the earth guiding our planet, though the spiritual path is not necessarily about gathering more and more beliefs. It is about testing, step by step, what we believe about life and using the inner laboratory of our own experience to transform those beliefs into an inner knowing. We don't have to have all the answers, nor should we blindly accept every spiritual idea that comes our way. A saying I love is that you don't want to be so open-minded that your brains fall out!
True certainty comes from what we have experienced within.
Written by Jaidhara Sleighter
Comments will be approved before showing up.
