The Hoax is entwined with the truth. Learning how to tell the difference just may be our ultimate lesson. The lesson is getting tougher and tougher. For example, I was shown a video recently - it was absolutely amazing. A dog painting a picture of a landscape, then a sunflower and then a portrait of another dog. It's enough to bring you to tears

The Hoax is entwined with the truth. Learning how to tell the difference just may be our ultimate lesson. The lesson is getting tougher and tougher. For example, I was shown a video recently - it was absolutely amazing. A dog painting a picture of a landscape, then a sunflower and then a portrait of another dog. It's enough to bring you to tears to see a creature normally thought of as subhuman performing such acts of empathy and creativity. As much as I wanted to believe it, I couldn't and a bit of investigation revealed the Hoax. Now this was just a simple video on Instagram or something. It was incredibly deceiving. It looked so ordinary, someone haphazardly filming their pet on their phone, like we all do. But it was really trickery. What was not too long ago considered sophisticated technology for Hollywood productions is now at EVERYONE’S fingertips. It's only going to get more and more accurate and deceiving. So how can you believe anything you see, let alone read? This illusion is finding its way into every aspect of our lives including our education, our faith, our health care, our daily news, worldly events and ultimately, our story. So how do we navigate what's real and what's not when they are entangled so intricately? When the good is being served along with the evil. When reality sits next to complete illusion! The concept is not really new. Now there are even strong scientific arguments that suggest reality as we know it could be a holographic simulation. The Bible was conceived 350 years after the death of Jesus and although its words contain immense merit it was ultimately used to gain control through religion. So we have been dealing with this for sometime now. I am certainly not asking my religious friends and family to not read the Bible, but simply be aware of the Hoax that may lie within. Maybe if I said Satan just may have his influence somewhere in there, just like on the internet, that may make some sense. Maybe the Hoax is simply the thing that divides one human from another. I heard an interesting metaphor of how the human race is like a big tug of war happening on the deck of a sinking ship. We are fighting each other when we should be looking for the hole in the ship! Perhaps that rope in the tug of war is the Hoax. It certainly is dividing us. Once we see how we are all connected, that Hoax will dissolve. Again it's a hard lesson. So how do we find the truth? As a human I do not think I am qualified to answer that question. But I do think I have the resources to search for it. The other day I was sitting by the brook, very much alive with snowmelt, and there was truth there. The other night I came face to face with a very large bear trying to eat my last chicken, and there was truth there. This morning I picked up my banjo and plucked a single note, and the truth was loud and clear. When you are done listening to this, put your phone down or turn your computer off and go outside and look around.