Aletheia — Truth

For most of us, our first real encounter with chivalry was extraordinary, like discovering a hidden treasure with our name on it.
    The words, the ideas, the symbols, rang with familiarity — meaningful, yet ancient, pre-dating our physical selves, implanted by a thousand generations, yet relevant to here and now. It was like the return of a forgotten memory that reconnected us to our real inheritance, our noble ancestry, with declarations that made it unlikely that things would ever be the same again.
    There was a stirring of identity, an awakening that promised a truer grasp of reality. Here we found elements of Truth that destiny called us to recognize. We also saw the illusions around us for what they are, the tragic flaws we were told to believed in, and how they constantly push us in the wrong direction.
    The words that chivalry grabbed us with were deceptively simple: justice, courtesy, defending those in need, forgiveness, self-development for the greater good, humility. So different from the constant drone of values pressed on us by the marketplace. How long we ignored them, and yet here they are, unveiled with sudden energy and deep significance. Our own significance, even the survival of the world, became contingent on bringing them to life
    This awakening of who we are and what we represent, is no small thing.
    We find a name for this experience from ancient Greece: anagnorisis (a- nog- 'NOR-esis), a sudden insight that changes one's perception, not only of the world but of oneself. It is a moment when Truth unveils itself to our conscious minds, and intrinsically shapes our identity.
    In drama, anagnorisis represents the moment when heroes respond to truths or events that were previously hidden. Aristotle, in his Poetics, considered it an essential ingredient of tragedy, a climax of new awareness. Like its philosophical counterpart, it provokes a change in one's perception of the world and of self. In Chivalry-Now, we view this as an awakening of our moral centers that completes who we are.
    This accounts for the strong attraction we feel toward chivalry, Arthurian Literature, and the 12 Trusts. Here we find fundamental clues leading to who we are a species, clues that validate human worth and dignity, and provide our own unique path.
    What is this Truth that anagnorisis wakens us to? Something greater than an accumulation of fact?
    The Greek founders of Western Civilization grappled with similar ideas more than two millennia ago. Through anagnorisis, we unite with their legacy and timeless resolve. The word they bequeathed to us for this provocatively inspiring Truth is aletheia (alee-THEE-a).
    Aletheia describes Truth as: "unhidden; no longer concealing that which is evident." Anagnorisis is the unveiling of this truth, that is otherwise unseen.
    Sound familiar? Isn't that how it felt when chivalry first quickened our hearts?
    If Truth is that which is evident, or "unhidden," and yet we need to be awakened to it, the question then arises as to how we failed to see it in everyday life? What distorted our view? Illusions. Misconceptions. Thinking we have all the answers. Entertaining values that negate one another. Surrendering our powers of discernment in order to fit-in with social games and expectations.
    The inclusiveness of Truth makes it naturally "unhidden." It exists right before us all the time. Self-manifest, yet difficult to grasp by the limitations of thought. Our busy, calculating minds smear it with false concepts and decorations. We further conceal it with traditions that have lost their meaning. But there it is! We exist in it. We are part of it. There is no escape other than ignorance, fantasy or acquiescent doldrum.
    There are variant etymologies of the word aletheia, which add further richness of meaning. The first, as discussed earlier, is "a state of not being hidden." It can be also be translated as "remembering," suggesting that Truth is something we call back into consciousness, something that returns to enhance our perception. We respond to it with a pull of familiarity and kinship, like a personal memory.
    Another translation, oddly enough, suggests a "not-death-experience." If Truth is regarded as "not-death," it must then be regarded as a clearer, more direct experience of life. It provides the here and now of authenticity, an active relationship between subject and object that provokes the awakening of anagnorisis.
    The initial attraction we feel toward chivalry is more than curiosity, or momentary fancy. It is a significant telling of who we are, an open door to self-discovery. Understanding this, we are more likely to step through that door and take what we find more seriously.
    The opposite of aletheia is falsehood, deception — a state bordering on oblivion that comes from not knowing (or remembering) who we are, living instead as something small and frustratingly inauthentic.
    Recognizing Truth can be a life-transforming experience. When we awaken that depth, which is part of us already, we see the world as if scales had fallen from our eyes. We experience aletheia as "not-death" in that the experience of Truth brings a shaper, more focused experience of life.
    Aletheia reminds us that we can be more than what we are at the moment, which can be small and transitory. We can represent ideals that give birth to true nobility.