I've written about truth before (from the vantage point of falsifiability) but like most things, my mind has been kicking around some ideas.
I used to think of "the truth" as a treasure to be found. I could think, read, maybe even actually discover what the "right" answers were to life's most perplexing questions, but mainly about God.
I have always wanted to believe, but I have always been dogged by doubt. For every reason to believe there is a reason to doubt. For every yin a yang, for every black a white. I can argue every side inside and out and if you let yourself do that, it's quite exhausting.
Unknowingly, I had adopted a traditional Western view of the truth. It goes something like this:
There is only one truth and (surprise) it just so happens to align to my beliefs.
In other words, truth is a zero sum game; a science experiment; a mathematical equation to be solved. The truth is singular, definable, and crystal clear. Ignoring the fact that this idea of truth flies in the face of lived human experience and it's utterly convincing and cutting in its logic. Above all, truth is a thing, an object, an idea to find and believe in.
For the most part, I still stand by this idea. That is, the truth is the truth. Facts are facts (and not alternative facts). Science is a great way of understanding the universe (evolution, vaccines, etc.) math is great (yay, bridges)!
Here comes the but....
But the truth is more complicated than only understanding the world and experiences through a reductionist lens.
Simply put, science is critical to creating a better life for humans but science can't tell us how to live or tell us what the meaning of life should be. Science is the blank coloring page, you can't change the outline, but we decide how to color it and embellish it.
Let me clarify, that yes, I am oversimplifying it, and maybe even overstating my argument. For example, evolution has guided our decisions and there is evidence to suggest we have already made a choice for before our brains are even aware of that choice being made. This is not an air-tight argument, it's a blog. So, while I maintain math and science truth as "captial T truth"...I also find this kind of truth alienating on a personal level. Our metaphors for truth don't fit the lived experience of most humans.
Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about that is unrelated to truth but related to time.
In the west we see time as moving forward and our metaphors for time involved "getting over things", "moving on", etc. However, our lived experience as time do not match the lived experiences (how often a simple memory can take us right back to a trauma). However, other cultures use a metaphor of walking backwards. We can only see the past, not the future we're stumbling into. I find this metaphor much closer to reality.
I've come to believe truth isn't an object but a journey we take, and on that journey, and hopefully, at best, the truth unfolds before you. Of course there is a place for science and math truth, but to force that kind of metaphor into our relationships, religious or spiritual realm, personal choice, art, etc. it doesn't work so well. Maybe I just don't want everything to be explained by science. I prefer the metaphor of a walk. I may wander here a bit, I may get lost, I may even stop for awhile. If I saw it was a zero sum game, maybe I have a personal crisis or breakdown, but if I see truth and life, as one long adventure, I can have the wherewithal to keep going.
Last spring I had a rabbi come to our multifaith forum and she shared this story with our panel. I think it's a good place to end.
"The Baal Shem quoted the Psalm, "Truth shall spring out of the earth" (85:12) and asked, "Surely it must be easy to find Truth?" "Indeed it is easy, " he continued, "but no one wants to bend down. No one is willing to stoop to pick up a little Truth..." A popular saying states that one can walk the length and breadth of the whole world with the Truth. The Baal Shem accepted this, since the Truth is knocked about everywhere on earth"
A Passion For Truth - Abraham Joshua Heschel
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