# Truth, Your Truth, and the View from the Mountain

- Show: [Stillness in the Storms](https://stillnessinthestorms.com/), a podcast with Steven Webb
- Episode: 182
- Published: 15 November 2026
- Length: 19:28 (about 19 minutes)
- Subject: Love, Empathy & Other People, Inner Peace Foundations
- Web page: https://stillnessinthestorms.com/episode/truth-your-truth-and-the-view-from-the-mountain
- Listen: [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stillness-in-the-storms-with-steven-webb/id1467889656), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/5Q4LN7Ev2CwTMzxj8jlFmN), [MP3](https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/6ded4588-be87-4b2d-a40c-f1b8a7793330.mp3)

How can two people both be right? If you've never left your clearing at the bottom of the mountain, there's no river a mile away. You're not lying. You just can't see it from there.

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We each sit in our own little clearing, trees all the way around, and what we can see from there feels like the whole truth. Climb a little and there are more clearings, more rivers, more truths, and your own starts to go shaky and blurred. The higher you go, the wiser you get, because you see there isn't just one truth. Being at the top of your game doesn't get you out of your clearing either. I use Trump as the example. From where he sits America is doing great, and I'd say that's ignorance more than lying, because lying is the intention to deceive. I'm a Lib Dem because I agree with all parties a little bit, and I like what Ken Wilber said, that nobody is 100% wrong. "I might be wrong" is actually liberating. I still find it hardest with family.

**One thing to try:** Next time someone tells you they're absolutely right, try saying, "You might be right. From where I'm sat I see it slightly different, but I might not be right either." It's easier with a stranger than with family, so start there.

## In this episode

- (0:39) Is there a river a mile away?
- (2:09) We each sit in our own little clearing
- (3:34) Two empires that each thought they were the only one
- (6:49) Nobody presumed the Earth was flat
- (8:59) It's not always about height: Trump's clearing
- (11:45) Is he lying, or ignorant?
- (15:12) Why "I might be wrong" is liberating
- (17:13) Back to the river

## With gratitude to

Nancy, Barb, Daniel, Coby, Dave, Lundin, Hartley, Cathy, Andrae, Mitch, Richie, Iiris, Dee, Diana, Ellen, Sergio, Tara, Bob, Kurstie, Gigi and Sue

Support the podcast and join the Weekly Calm: [stevenwebb.uk](https://stevenwebb.uk)

Thank you for listening.

Steven

## The question this answers

How can two people both be so sure they're right?

> The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

If you're halfway up a mountain and you can see a river in the distance, and someone asks, is there a river a mile away, you say yes. Easy.

But if you've spent your whole life in a little clearing at the bottom of that mountain, and the furthest you've explored is half a mile, and nobody has ever mentioned a river, you're going to say no. Why would you even ask? Of course there's not.

You're not lying. From where you stand, there is no river.

That's relative truth. And the real truth is that you don't know, but "I don't know" is uncomfortable, so most of us skip it.

## The heart of it

- What you can see depends on where you're stood.
- Being at the top of your game doesn't lift you out of your clearing.
- "I might be wrong" is liberating.

We're all sat in our own little clearing, trees all the way around. Each clearing has its own kind of trees, and some people don't know other trees exist. Climb up a little and you see more clearings, more rivers, more truths. The more books you read, the more time you spend with people from other walks of life and other politics than yours, the more you realise that maybe not everything you think is the absolute truth.

> The wiser you get because you see that there isn't just one truth.

And it shifts with the day. I'm not very wise when I've got a headache. Catch me calm, just after meditation, and I'm open to your opinion. Catch me on a bad day and I'm not interested, and I might even be offended that you don't believe my truth.

It's not always about height either. You can be prime minister, president, or the president of your local club, and still be sat in your clearing. I use Trump as the example. From where he sits, with his friends all making loads of money, America is doing great. Is he lying? Lying is the intention to deceive. I'd say he's ignorant of what's going on for everybody else, and I'd say a lot of politicians are like that.

I'm a Lib Dem, and I always say that's because I agree with all parties a little bit. They all identify real issues. I don't think any one side has all the answers. I like what Ken Wilber once said, that nobody is 100% wrong.

So why does this help you through difficult times? Because you get less attached to your truth. Is there a God? I don't know. Is religion true? I don't know. I might think differently in ten years' time. I hope I do.

## One small thing to try

Next time someone says to you, no, I'm absolutely right, try this.

> You might be right. From where I'm sat, I see it slightly different, but I might not be right either.

It's easier with a stranger, so start there. It's hard with family. I struggle with it myself, because part of me wants to argue it out.

## Questions people ask

### Does this mean there's no such thing as truth?

No. Nobody looked up a thousand years ago and decided the Earth was flat. They just never thought we'd be on a ball. Then someone measured it, and then another, and now every reasonable person with the evidence agrees. I don't have to go into space to believe it. When more and more comes along saying the same thing, you can't ignore it. That's how I came to meditation too. The first book that told me to meditate, I thought, here we go again. I'd tried it at about 28 and gave up in three minutes.

### Isn't saying "I don't know" just weak?

I find it's the opposite. When we get stuck on thinking we have all the truth and all the knowledge, we stop learning. We don't have it all. We're learning all the time.

### Why is it so hard to do this with family?

I don't have a tidy answer. I struggle with my expectations sometimes, and I want to argue it out. Most people think they're the one who can see through it, the same way most people think they're an above average driver. I include myself in that.

### How can two truths both be right?

Picture two clearings on the same mountain, one with the river running through the centre and one without. Both people are describing what's really there. It gets complicated fast when it's benefits, immigration or a war, but the starting point is the same. Ask what they can see from where they are.

## Transcript

[0:02] The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception. Marcus Aurelius from Meditations. You know, what your truth is and what everybody else's truth is really does depend on where you stand. And in politics, especially where a lot of my career is, there seems to be multiple truths and multiple facts. The very famous, when Kelly said, Kelly Conway looked up and said, well, they're alternative facts. Here's the thing, if you're halfway up a mountain and you look down and you can see a river in the distance and someone says, is there a river a mile away?

[0:51] You can say, yeah, there's a river there. But if you spent your whole life in a little clearing at the bottom of that mountain, and the furthest you've explored is half a mile, and you've never heard the river, no one's ever mentioned the river, no one's ever talked about a river, you may not even know what a river is. And someone says, is there a river a mile away? The chances are you're going to go, no, why would you ask that? Of course there's not. So this is what relative truth is and the truth is you don't know but very often you don't know is uncomfortable and we don't like the unknowing. I'm Steven Webb and welcome to Stillness in the Storms. This is one of two podcasts I have.

[1:42] The other one is Inner Peace Meditations which are just meditations, no adverts. And this one's more about talking and talking about things like truth and relative truth and absolute truth. And I help you through difficult times and you can get all my links from stevenwebb.uk. They all come to you with no adverts. So more about that a little bit later. So you imagine we're all sat in our own little clearing. Trees all the way around us. Each clearing has its own certain type of trees. Some people don't know other trees exist. And you climb up a little bit and you suddenly see there's more. That's more information.

[2:34] And the higher you go, more clearings, more rivers, more truths, you're adding more to it. And that's the same as life general, the more you learn, the more books you read, the more different perspectives you have, the more time you sit down and spend with other people from other walks of life, other politics than yourself, you start to realise that maybe not all I think is the absolute truth, less black and white thinking. And truth suddenly starts to become shaky and blurred. And not only that, our memory of truth is only the last replay of it. But the higher you go, and I use higher as a mountaintop analogy, the wiser you get because you see that there isn't just one truth.

[3:27] And if you only stay on one side of the mountain, the other side might be a desert, but you might not know. So when the Chinese Empire and the Roman Empire both existed, we know pretty much for a few thousand years they both coexisted. There's no evidence written in either and they documented quite a bit then as well as the Persians I think invented the alphabet or invented writing, not for poems and songs or anything like that. It was invented so they could keep an eye on their goods for trading, which is a much more romantic story, but it's not. But there's nothing in the writings, most of the writings are about courts and laws and things like that, until later on they started writing books and stories and more interesting things.

[4:27] But we know from people's accounts that there's very little evidence that the Chinese Empire knew anything about the Roman Empire. They both thought they were the only empire. They were the only people. They didn't know nothing about America. They didn't know nothing that they were on an island, so to speak. They thought they'd explored the whole world. And were telling a lie then? No, they were telling the truth from their perspective, from where they got to, their vantage point, from their altitude of their perspective. And when I sit down with people of my own politics, I'm a Lib Dem. I always say I'm a Lib Dem because I agree with all parties a little bit.

[5:17] I think they all have some merits, they all identify issues, but I don't agree that any one side has all the answers, and I don't agree with all of their problems stemmed from certain things that they believe. So I'm kind of in the middle. I think there's truths everywhere, and there's falsehoods and ignorance everywhere, but it's not always known. And I think the more we realise that our truth is our relative truth, based on the day, based on the altitude, based on how we're feeling, I'm not very wise when I've got a headache and I'm feeling ill and depending on who it is and depends if I react, my truth becomes very limited and less wise. I think that's the reality for all of us, but when we've just sat in meditation we're calm and we're chilled and everything's fine.

[6:17] Someone else comes along with a different opinion we're like okay I'm open to this opinion now. You catch us on a bad day I'm not interested and we react to it. We sometimes react with anger and ignorance because we're offended by not believing our truth. And, you know, the more we learn more, the more we think it was obvious at the time that we should have known that. And we forget that we didn't know that at the time. You know, nobody presumed the Earth was flat three, four hundred years ago, a thousand years ago. No one looked up and goes, oh, by the way, I think the Earth's flat. It was just never thought that the Earth would be on a ball, on sphere. And it wasn't until someone come along and said, well, I'm going to measure this and it's a bit weird, but I don't think the earth's flat.

[7:14] And then people started questioning it and going, of course it is. And then after time goes on, pretty much most people, most reasonable people with evidence base. I don't have to go into space to believe that if one person comes along and says, we're probably on a ball, and the next person comes along, and the next person, and every government agrees, and every scientist with reasonable kind of academic experience all agree, I'm going to go, well, I agree with you. I can see atoms in their whole. I can't see an individual atom. But I'm not going to question that they're not there, because enough people have come along to say, it's there. And like many things, when I started meditating, the first book that told me you should meditate and that will give you a little more calmness in life, I was like, here we go again, meditate.

[8:09] Well, I can't meditate. I can't quieten my mind for 30 seconds, let alone four and a half hours going on a cushion. That's why I thought meditation was. I tried it when I was about 28, I thought it'd be cool. I gave up in about three minutes because like, yeah, that's not me. But when more and more books told me, you turn the page over, meditation is the answer. Meditation in some form is the answer. You cannot ignore a truth when more and more comes along. Very similar to accusations and we've seen it in press with famous people. If a person comes along and you go, okay, it's one, then two, then three, then four. At some point you've got to stand up and go, ah, we ought to look into this, there may be something here. And it's not always just about height.

[9:03] You can be at the top of your game, you can be prime minister, you can be president, you can be top of the world family, you could be the president of your local club. It doesn't mean that you cannot be susceptible to your truth and your ignorance of it. At the end of the day, take Trump's clearing. You know, he doesn't understand when someone says to him in an interview, look, President, America's not doing so well now. He's like, what do you mean it's not doing so well? The stock market's at record high, we're making billions? He was asked in an interview the other day, well you've made lots of money Mr President and he said well you just have to buy shares.

[9:52] From his clearing that's true. From him and his friends and everybody's doing really well. There's a big reach around and everybody's making loads of money and everybody's happy. From his orbit. And you've got the data giants and the in charge of building these data centres all going in and saying to Mr President I'll put trillions and trillions into the economy if you just let me build my data centres and you get rid of all the rules and all that and just let me build it and Trump goes okay we'll give you tax breaks you can have all this and it's wonderful and it's brilliant and we'll bring all our things back to America and it's wonderful and brilliant and then someone says to him yes but gas prices it's just temporary because it affect him. So it's true that from his perspective, America is doing incredible. I remember an interview when he said, someone said to him, so what do you say to the person?

[10:48] It was a government shutdown. It was in his first term and I think it was like 30, 35 days or something. And it was like about 20, 25 days in. And someone asked him, what do you say to that person that cannot afford groceries because they haven't had their wages? And he said, well, you do what I do. You go into the supermarket and you say, well, I'm good for it. I'll pay for it at the end of the month. And the interviewer said, do you think they can really do that? That's what I do all the time. Just say, I'm good for it, because that's what he does. He goes into a place to buy a house or a car, and he doesn't write a cheque, the same as the queen or the king now. They don't carry money around with them, because it's presumed they're good and someone will come along and write the cheque or pay for it in the end.

[11:41] So from his perspective America is doing absolutely great. Is he lying? Well this is where it comes a bit sketchy. Lying is the intention to deceive. Is he deliberately trying to deceive or is he truly ignorant to the reality of what's going on? I would say he's I would say he's outright ignorant and I would say a lot of politicians are like that. I don't know many politicians that sit on the meditation cushion understand their thoughts, understand where their thoughts coming from, understand that a memory is quite bad, that we collect information and we only remember the last thought we had of it. If I tell you to picture a football game, you're going to come up with a football game based on your teams, or if you're into football.

[12:33] If I say picture a football or a person kicking a ball in the air, you're going to create a certain age, probably a boy, but might not be if you're a fan of women's football. If you're in America, you might even have a strange shaped ball. And that's the reality. And then we add things to it and I say, well, they're currently playing in a green kit. Well, then you update that vision in your mind as it goes. And that's what we do with our memories. We create them as we go. So why does this help you on the spiritual journey and why does this help you through difficult times? Well, when you realise that your truth might not be the truth and it's relative.

[13:26] Relative based on your knowledge at the moment. Relative based on what you do know and what you don't know. Based on have you done your proper research from both ways or you've been down a rabbit hole. And we also reflect that back to the people we're talking to and the people they come up. When we start arguing the truth. Well, you're wrong and I'm right. It's possible to have two rights. It's possible two truths can coexist, you know, in two different clearings at the bottom of the mountain, one with the river going through the centre and one without the river going through the centre. I know this is a really simple analogy, but when you complicate it with benefits and immigrants and all the different things surrounding all of these things at the moment is so complicated with the wars and all in the world, you know, Putin believes he has a right to Ukraine for some bizarre reason.

[14:25] You know, I talk to people in the Western world and say, well, we created this by forcing NATO upon him. And all of that can be partly true. I tend to disagree. I think Putin can stop this war and stop this killing overnight, getting out of another country and stop attacking. But even in that regards, there is multiple versions of the truth that none of them are 100% true and I like what Ken Wilber once said, I heard him say, nobody is 100% wrong even if it's just their relative ignorance to the situation but we very often don't like saying I don't know. So why does this help you find more peace and help you through difficult times?

[15:17] Well, simply because you get less attached to your truth. Just think about it. I might be wrong. That's actually liberating. I don't know. Is there a God? I don't know. Is religion true? I don't know. And just because I happen to think a certain way, doesn't mean I'm right and I might think differently in ten years' time. I hope I do think differently in ten years' time. I think when we get stuck on our thinking that this is the truth, I have all the truth, I have all the knowledge, we don't. We're learning all the time. So before I wrap up today's podcast I just want to thank you to everyone who has bought me a coffee or sent me a gift or supported or joined, become a member that donates regularly.

[16:12] So we've got Nancy, Barb, Daniel, Coby, Dave, Lundin and Hartley, Cathy, Andrae, Mitch, Richie, Iiris, Dee, Diana, Ellen, Sergio, Tara and Bob, and a couple of anonymous. And a warm welcome to Kurstie and Gigi, my newest monthly supporters, and thank you Sue for coming back and raising hers. That's quite a few names because I haven't done a podcast for three weeks. So thank you to you all. You keep this podcast advert free and it really does make a difference. And we're opening up the WhatsApp group again over the next couple of weeks so look out for an email with a link to the WhatsApp group because we're starting to do some practices in there it'd be nice to open it up again and get some of you in there anybody that wants to go there and you can head over to stevenwebb.uk to find out more and links to my other podcast Inner Peace Meditations.

[17:13] So, back to the river. Next time someone says to you, like, "No, I'm absolutely right," just be OK. Say, "I don't know." Say, you might be right. From where I'm sat, I see it slightly different, but I might not be right either. It's hard to do it with family. I struggle with family sometimes. I struggle with my expectations sometimes where like, I want to argue it out. It's easier to do it with a stranger. Where do you sit with this? Where have you struggled in the past when you've believed everything's right? I'm going to leave you with one thought. And that is, I think it's about 95% of people think they're above average driver. And there's probably stats for that everywhere that most people think they're the ones that can see the truth.

[18:10] Most people think they're the ones that have common They're the ones that have it. They're the one in the nine billion people that can see through it, you know. And I don't mean to, it's not about putting anybody down. It's not about doing that. It's just, I might not know and be comfortable with that. I'm Steven Webb and thank you for spending your time with me. Thank you for supporting the podcast. And until next week, oh, don't forget, you can always go to stevenwebb.uk and join my Weekly Calm. When I come off this and edit this, it's Sunday afternoon, I always leave it till last minute. But when I edit this and upload it, I will send my Weekly Calm before heading up my mum's for a nice Sunday roast with all the family.

[18:59] They're putting up the Christmas decorations today. A bit too early. My truth is it's not Christmas yet, but their truth is it's Christmas and let's go with it. Right, that's a long sign off to say, Take care this week, thank you and I love you.

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