Truth - Really?
When I was a little girl, I heard a story about a man who wondered about the streets of a city searching for someone who knew "truth". I don't recall whether or not he ever found the person he was looking for; but, I do remember thinking it was a good thing to do.
There are primarily two questions I'd like to discuss concerning truth:
1. Is there such a thing as "absolute" truth or is everything relative?
2. If there is a real truth, can one "know" it?
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines truth to be: (1) the state of being the case: FACT; (2) the body of real things, events, and facts: ACTUALITY; (3) the property of being in accord with fact or reality: TRUE. When you think about it, there are quite a few words in our vocabulary that have to do with the idea of TRUTH. In addition to those just mentioned there are also: reality, certainty, veracity, lies, untruths, etc. That there are words defining this concept and its opposite (i.e., lies) indicates that there are some who do believe TRUTH to be an understandable (i.e., knowable) concept.
Today however, there are many who think it's relative as to what an individual believes. As if, ones mind (where beliefs are held) is the controlling factor. I'll bring up "relativism" on another day. Just let me ask you a couple of questions....
If I believe hard-enough that the grass is purple... can that belief actually change the color of the grass? Could my belief negate the effects of chlorophyll (the green photosynthetic coloring matter of plants)? Because it's a trivial question in that there are no consequences of believing the grass to be purple, you might say that it's purple if I want it to be.
What if the question were instead... If I believe hard-enough that I could fly... I climb to the top of the Empire State Building to live my faith... can my belief really make me able to fly? What if I took someone else (a child perhaps) with me... what would you say then? Probably (and rightly ;-) that I was crazy.... perhaps I'd be locked up before I could hurt someone else. Why?
Because the TRUTH of the matter is that my belief had nothing to do with whether or not I could fly and in TRUTH I can not fly.
Next time, I'll discuss whether or not we can "know" truth... I'd love to hear your comments (proper English please) on this.
Comments
I am reading Augustine these days and just came across this quote,
"Let truth, light of my heart and not the shadows within me speak to me! I slid down into that state and was in darkness, but even from there I loved you. I strayed and yet I remembered you. I heard your voice behind me, telling me to return, but I heard only faintly because of the uproar of the restless. And now I am returning, sweaty and out of breath, to your fountain. Let no one get in my way. I will drink this and I will live it. May I not be my life; I have lived badly on my own. I was my own death. I revive in you. Speak to me; discuss with me. I have believed your books and their words are full of mystery."
Posted by: Gordon Johnson | November 23, 2005 12:43 PM