by Barbra Henry

Created on: October 26, 2008

It must be understood that truth is not real. It is the best representation or abstracting of reality. It is only a facet of reality describing either an objective characteristic or subjective characteristic; objective being the truth outside of oneself or subjective being the truth relative to oneself; realities corresponding.

To find truth of either kind concerning anything particular, one must first understand and perceive all facets of two things, herself/himself and her/him resources of information. One must consider mere needs, psychologically and physically to root out fear. One must consider the source, psychologically and physically as well. What we cannot hear other creatures might. What is unseen to us may be seen with instruments made to explore those higher wave frequencies. What may be true to us may be unpleasant or unsatisfying to know.

One must consider the source of information as well, to root out its liar. A man who is colorblind is likely to tell you that there is no color red. There may be many reasons for liar so one must first be on guard and explore resources and consider probable cause.

The second point one must consider, is finding truth in the habit of questioning. We must question everything. This is the spirit necessary to know truth, the belief that by questioning, one may come upon realities by understanding various points of view. This is the first step in finding truth and is necessary to the next step, that of gathering information. To gather information one must look in the direction of the previous information. Being aware that how information is gathered may influence that information. The modes of communication are important. If a young boy came to you in tears and heart broken to tell you that Santa Claus is coming and bringing gifts, you might think Santa Clause is evil and his gift might be some calamity. Isolate information from its mode of communication if they are different things and question them both.

From here, one proceeds with the third step that of putting the information gathered into systems of understanding. The understanding may take different form. Do not be aware only of reason. Beauty is not reason able but still it is beautiful.

The fourth step is to use this system to compare with other information, checking to see if they fit the system. If they do not bring understanding then ask why they did not. In this way, one may discover other systems and other points of view. Double-checking is necessary, as one is likely to repeat mistakes.

The method then consists mainly of understanding both objectivity and subjectivity. The method comes from understanding oneself, information resources, and modes of communication. The structure of understanding or rhythm consists of questioning, gathering information, questioning information, putting information into systems, and judging new information by comparing systems of understanding. Compare keeping in mind that truth is only the abstraction of reality and the two are often confused.

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