The obvious topic that follows on from the trying to get a grip on the
truth is "faith". What is faith? It seems to me that many people view
faith as something that is required only by the religious and it is
connected to one deity or another.
Websters online dictionary does describe faith as having some connection with God - "belief and trust in and loyalty to God" but it also gives the following definition: "firm
belief in something for which there is no proof". Since I am moving
from the concept of "truth" to the concept of "faith" it is more
appropriate to take the second definition. After all, faith being
ascribed to a deity limits the scope of faith. Since "The Truth" is not
easy to pin down then it must be faith that we cling to. It is faith
that helps us hold on to "What I Believe to be the Truth"!
To explain this again a little more clearly. Faith
is believing in something where there is no proof. "The Truth", I have
just convinced myself in my previous post is illusive and it can be said
always needs "proof"! So it stands to reason then that all that we
claim as our "What I Believe to be the Truth" is in fact an exhibition of faith!
I accept that if everyone has the same "What I Believe to be the Truth"
then calling it "faith" starts to sound a little wacky. For instance
sitting on a park bench and trusting that it will hold your weight does
strictly speaking require faith, but you are going to be dragged off to a
mental asylum if you keep checking every bench to see that it is strong
enough to hold you. So in this instance your faith in park benches is
so strong that you feel that it would be better to look on it as "The
Truth"! But don't be fooled... it's still "What I Believe to be the
Truth"!
Issac Newton's laws of gravity were, it seemed at the time, rock solid
and everyone (most people anyway) put their faith in them and they
became "The Truth" (Just remember not to be conned - it's still "What I
Believe to be the Truth"!) Years and years of science exams have been
written expecting the students to know and understand Newton's laws. It
wasn't until Einstein and Eddington discovered that Newton's laws didn't
work for them any more when trying to understand planetary motion that
we discovered that Newton's laws just gave us an approximation. An
approximation cannot be called "The Truth"! I guess that story is just
to illustrate again that truth is illusive but we need faith to progress
once we understand our "What I Believe to be the Truth".
Before I end off this post I would like to return to the understanding
of faith in a deity or, if you like, faith in the absence of a deity.
Whatever we say is our "What I Believe to be the Truth" when it comes to
religion or the lack thereof, all that we can hold to is faith! We
can't escape it. No matter what you say is the truth it is only by using
faith that you can hold on to it as your truth.
Having grasped this, I can look at what people put their faith in and
know just like me they are trying to make sense of this world where "The
Truth" is so illusive. They don't and I don't have "The Truth" pinned
down.
The Bible defines faith for us... Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure
of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." There's that
word "hope" again!
Thursday 3 May 2012
Saturday 31 March 2012
The Illusive Truth
It is fascinating to me that the truth is so illusive.
When growing up I seemed to accept that everything that I believed could be automatically classified as "The Truth". Then it wasn't long before I found that not everyone agreed with my "The Truth" and I had to find out how to deal with that. That was easy - mine was "The Truth" and theirs was nonsense!
Then I got married! That changed things. My spouse's "The Truth" didn't look like mine and I wasn't allowed to discard it like I did with everyone else. I was forced to question my most sacred "The Truth" for the first time. I had to - don't say it - consider that it may not be the truth! I have to confess that it took years to swallow that - I still find it unpalatable!
More recently I have come to realise that my "The Truth" is really "What I Believe to be the Truth". In fact none of us are absolutely sure of much. We are OK when it comes to understanding about our frame of reference but then that is really only of value to ourselves. A soon as we impact on someone else we begin to loose our ability to be certain.
For example.
I see a woman drive by in green Ford. This is my truth. As long as I only deal in my own frame this is "What I Believe to be the Truth".
Then my spouse next me ruins my day and says "Did you see that long haired guy drive past in the blue Ford?" That is their "What I Believe to be the Truth" and it's not looking like mine!
If two observers of a single incident can have such different experiences what hope do we have of trusting the observations of our forefathers?
I've only been talking about everyones "What I Believe to be the Truth" and said nothing about the many times that people so easily fabricate their truth. People do this often without realising it. Perhaps to protect themselves because the truth would reveal more about themselves than they want to. People also fabricate the truth on purpose to gain the upper hand in life. So even people's "What I Believe to be the Truth" is hidden, bent and adjusted so that virtually anything anyone says is quite possibly... wrong!
Everyone says that history belongs to the victor! Nobody says that the victor is someone to be trusted!
So... the truth is illusive!
I can't spend my life not trusting anything anyone says but I don't have to be surprised when it turns out not to be correct.
This all reminds me of my student days when Pete Job said that his Philosophy lecturer asked the class how they could be certain that he, the lecturer, was real. I remember thinking at the time how stupid Philosophy was! But remember those where the days when I still had "The Truth"!
I does make you wonder what is real and what is just "What I Believe to be the Truth"!
It's no wonder Jesus claimed to be "The Truth". Yes, that is my "What I Believe to be the Truth"! Recently that has been my foundation. The corner stone to my truth. I look forward (my hope) to the day when I will see it as "The Truth".
When growing up I seemed to accept that everything that I believed could be automatically classified as "The Truth". Then it wasn't long before I found that not everyone agreed with my "The Truth" and I had to find out how to deal with that. That was easy - mine was "The Truth" and theirs was nonsense!
Then I got married! That changed things. My spouse's "The Truth" didn't look like mine and I wasn't allowed to discard it like I did with everyone else. I was forced to question my most sacred "The Truth" for the first time. I had to - don't say it - consider that it may not be the truth! I have to confess that it took years to swallow that - I still find it unpalatable!
More recently I have come to realise that my "The Truth" is really "What I Believe to be the Truth". In fact none of us are absolutely sure of much. We are OK when it comes to understanding about our frame of reference but then that is really only of value to ourselves. A soon as we impact on someone else we begin to loose our ability to be certain.
For example.
I see a woman drive by in green Ford. This is my truth. As long as I only deal in my own frame this is "What I Believe to be the Truth".
Then my spouse next me ruins my day and says "Did you see that long haired guy drive past in the blue Ford?" That is their "What I Believe to be the Truth" and it's not looking like mine!
If two observers of a single incident can have such different experiences what hope do we have of trusting the observations of our forefathers?
I've only been talking about everyones "What I Believe to be the Truth" and said nothing about the many times that people so easily fabricate their truth. People do this often without realising it. Perhaps to protect themselves because the truth would reveal more about themselves than they want to. People also fabricate the truth on purpose to gain the upper hand in life. So even people's "What I Believe to be the Truth" is hidden, bent and adjusted so that virtually anything anyone says is quite possibly... wrong!
Everyone says that history belongs to the victor! Nobody says that the victor is someone to be trusted!
So... the truth is illusive!
I can't spend my life not trusting anything anyone says but I don't have to be surprised when it turns out not to be correct.
This all reminds me of my student days when Pete Job said that his Philosophy lecturer asked the class how they could be certain that he, the lecturer, was real. I remember thinking at the time how stupid Philosophy was! But remember those where the days when I still had "The Truth"!
I does make you wonder what is real and what is just "What I Believe to be the Truth"!
It's no wonder Jesus claimed to be "The Truth". Yes, that is my "What I Believe to be the Truth"! Recently that has been my foundation. The corner stone to my truth. I look forward (my hope) to the day when I will see it as "The Truth".
Why do it?
Many people give the impression that they have the inside information on virtually any topic that is dicussed. I guess their thoughts (and mine) are really important to them (and me). Why do we feel so strongly that we should be heard? I'm no different! It's dissappointing that my views and thoughts aren't at all important to many other people! But who can blame them when I too find it hard to take their views very seriously when I'm wanting mine heard.
Ok - that sounds really depressing... but that should be the last of it!
It does help to explain that this Blog is about expressing my thoughts into a void and actually not really caring if anyone reads them. I get the satisfaction of giving myself the time (I'm a really slow thinker) to cement my thoughts and write them down. So if you're reading this Blog... that's fine... but it's not for you! Selfishly, I have to admit it's for me...
Why not get a journal and put my thoughts down there? A journal is private and there is no way you expect anyone else to read it. That has its advantages but a Blog could be read by others and so I have to write it like it might be read. This hopefully orders my thought process more and I only publish those thoughts of mine that are permitted in public.
Ok - that sounds really depressing... but that should be the last of it!
It does help to explain that this Blog is about expressing my thoughts into a void and actually not really caring if anyone reads them. I get the satisfaction of giving myself the time (I'm a really slow thinker) to cement my thoughts and write them down. So if you're reading this Blog... that's fine... but it's not for you! Selfishly, I have to admit it's for me...
Why not get a journal and put my thoughts down there? A journal is private and there is no way you expect anyone else to read it. That has its advantages but a Blog could be read by others and so I have to write it like it might be read. This hopefully orders my thought process more and I only publish those thoughts of mine that are permitted in public.
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