“What is Truth?” asked Pilate. [Bible, John 18:38]
“Why must we search for the Truth,” asked John Cage, “why don’t we have it?” [John Cage, 1957 Darmstadt lecture on “Communication”]
Truth, in its meaning as ultimate knowledge of reality and human life, does not conform to the restrictions of rational thought. Rational thought (frequently and loosely referred to as “reasoning”) serves best where it operates within a set of unyielding givens. This is not possible where every critical given is open to endless modification, in any search for ultimate Truth. In short, putting what is all-encompassing within an enclosing mental frame is an exercise in futility. Deliberators on ultimate truth waste their time (and ours) when they fail to see that it does not – can not – proceed from the human mind, a reality confirmed by centuries of consistent failure to succeed. Smart as we are, try as we may, the Truth remains beyond the grasp of philosophy, beyond science, beyond politics, beyond opinion and, face it, beyond argument. What is left for mortals, concerning ultimate knowledge of reality and human life, is to concede that it must come from the mind of God. For it is simply not something we can originate or, what is laughable, establish by consensus.
Which leads to the second question, “Why must we search for the Truth, why don’t we have it?” Well, the answer is, we do have it. The Truth is present in us as a reflection from our Source of Being, something that Plato elaborates on in his “Allegory of the Cave” [The Republic] and mystics have sensed throughout history. That reflection – faint in some, stronger in others – is the inspiration for action tending toward a more fulfilling, happier life than otherwise possible. This “bridge” to our Source, sensed intuitively (not rationalized), is manifest in God-centered religion that, when unadulterated by politics, provides the best available guide to a good life.
Sadly such best guidance gets disregarded, twisted, politicized in the interest of selfish ends or through carelessness. Most sadly, religion is frequently confused with its institution or administration, forgetting that substituting messenger for message blocks any guide to a better way of doing things, including conducting one’s life.
Though the first question, “What is Truth,” has never been successfully answered rationally, important insights can proceed from serious attempts at an answer. For example, it serves to remind us that we are incapable through reason alone to attain that balance of inner and outer conflicts that delivers the happiness we long for, dream of, struggle for. This universal dilemma is wonderfully vented in a literary visit to the deepest level of thought regarding music and poetry:
“…thus when by Poetry, or when by Music…we find ourselves melted into tears, we weep then, not through excess of pleasure, but through a certain petulant, impatient sorrow at our inability to grasp now, wholly, here on earth, at once and forever, those divine and rapturous joys of which through the poem or through the music, we attain to but brief and indeterminate glimpses [of the divine].” [Edgar Allan Poe, “The Poetic Principle.”]
He had me, until he labeled truth, Christianity. Alot of twisted jargon to a biased end. We can’t just let be, be. We need labels for our understanding. Perception has alot to do with truth. Then there’s culture, ego, experience. Source is the one true truth, that we and all existence are connected. Christianity makes it all so elementary.
The truth is God-made the heavens on Earth and us his image. Follow his words of TRUTH. In spite of our natural desire to turn our backs on God and his words of truth For selfish self gratifying reason. We have deviated so far from the reality of God’s truth hence what we see today
Well, it seems if the Word of God as passed to and interpreted by men and made Gospel as any TRUTH has experienced a big lapse in the Dialogue as of late. We tend to forget that Humanity and advanced civilization in multiple cultures pre-dates the Blasphemy of the WORD the shame of Sin and an afterlife for anyone that was not Royal. It’s funny how spirituality is so Democratic and Forgiving. It’s almost as blindly faithful as Communism. Embrace a Super Natural Supreme Leader or Dictator however you prefer and imagine yourself aligned with what you believe is RIGHT. This is an organic biological DEATH TRIP. You are MATTER degrading all these beliefs and fantasies are just part of our inherent fear of returning to the nothing from which we came. Sorry to break it too Ya as your organs fail and your brain is deprived of oxygen and all your synapses fading you will see a bright LIGHT lol the light from which ALL came and you too will return to rest and the primordial nothing before any faithful beginning . Nothingness is FAITH it requires no savior or description. It’s coming to the Garden you have defiled with LUST and Greed and presumptions.