by Bob Trowbridge

Created on: January 15, 2009

"Truth" should always be used with a small "t" and the word should be used as little as possible. Those who use the word too freely can be dangerous. They believe they have already found the Truth. Because they have found the Truth, they feel obligated to share that Truth with the world, sometimes at the end of a sword.

While the truth can set you free, it can also enslave you. Our personal truths should be held lightly so they can live, breathe, grow, and change. When we embrace our truths too tightly, they cease to serve us and we end up serving them.

Some would say that finding truth is the same as uncovering facts, but that is neither factual nor true. While many facts can be called truths, not all truths are factual. Much of what we think of as truth exists in that gray space we call subjectivity.

All of art, all of nature, all of the drama of human interaction, plays havoc with truth. Have ever two humans gazed upon the same scene and perceived it identically? When my truth says that some person, some work of art, or some natural setting is beautiful, must all agree? Will all agree?

Is the truth of the scientist and the truth of the poet the same truth? Is one true because it is factual and the other not because it is from the soul? As Keats said, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."*

There is truth that only the eyes of love can see. There is truth born out of loss that only the heart can feel. There is truth that erupts from a child's laughter that no instrument can measure. In the life of any individual, what truths are worth seeking? What truths worth finding?

In the world of science and rationality, facts are gathered, theories advanced and tested, and sometimes useful products or ideas emerge. When these benefit humankind, we are all the better for it. Scientific truths can shape our daily lives. They can be turned to positive or negative uses. The truth of fire can warm our homes and cook our food or it can burn us.

But when we speak of finding truth, what truth are we seeking? It is not the truth of facts or scientific knowledge we seek. Even those who seek such find within themselves a yearning for a different kind of truth.

The focus of our search, as denizens of this earth, this paradise gone awry, is the truth of who we are. It is the truth of why we are here, why we even exist. Even those who are not aware of this seeking, nevertheless have the seed of this search deep within them. Socrates' admonition

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>