Does Truth Exist?
I have a problem with truth, and it is that I am not sure that it exists.
We refer to it all the time, extol it as a virtue, imagining it perhaps as a path we can follow, one of moral exactitude that will lead us to sainthood. But do any of us really tread this path? Think for a moment of all those occasions when we stray from the truth.
We stray when we exaggerate, when we make excuses, when we offer an insincere compliment or remain silent when we ought to really speak out. We stray when we misinform children about Father Christmas, or even when we pretend to be well and happy when we are not. All these – and there are many more – are examples of us departing from what we believe to be the truth. And we haven’t even touched upon out and out lies yet.
It would seem then that our days are spent in a fog of make-believe, surrounded by advertisers hype, deceptions, denials and concealments. In our every day lives truth is not natural to us. So why do we persist in our belief in truth when none of us uses us as a currency?
For one thing, in an uncertain world, it is comforting to have absolutes to cling to. They give us an identity and a moral purpose, and yet all too often are most fiercely held convictions are capable of doing enormous damage, either by inhibiting change – so necessary to our vitality – or by wishing to destroy that which is not encompassed by our versions of the truth.
We have seen this writ large in political pogroms and religious persecutions and crusades, but what about in our own private dealings.
Our lives become smaller when we believe in certainties, for we close ourselves off to the wealth of diversity. It begins with the misconception that if I am to be right it is necessary for you to be wrong, and all too frequently it ends with the desire to shun all those who disagree. Or worse.
The pursuit of ultimate truth has led men and women into great difficulties and darkness. Can one really distil all thought and opinions into one ideal? There have been those who have tried and whose ideas are more worthy than others, but often even these have been distorted by followers with their own agendas.
It is obvious that we need a code of morality, and law and order, but these operate for the common good, and do not force obscure truths upon unwilling people.
In the final analysis, perhaps the truth is that there are many truths. A snowdrop is not wrong to bloom in winter just because a rose blooms in summer.
I have a notion that we should learn to be curious about what others think. We should allow them time to speak and to say what they wish. And we should listen.
Antony Barnes is a director of http://www.thebookmarkshop.com & http://www.h-w-o.com. You are welcome to visit the sites.
