|
|
|
|
Truth
|
Truth Truth is a perishable and perishing commodity in our world. We have all heard the phrase "there is no absolute truth", which is an oxymoron if there ever was one. If you believe that statement is valid, you are stating a "truth". But what people mean by that statement is that there is no universal right way in any area of human experience ... not in philosophy, religion, politics ... Pluralism is the rule of the day and we all seem to believe that whatever is, is right. A few years ago, many of use were debating the validity of the philosophy expressed by Daniel Quinn. His tribal concept of people who agreed forming communities had a lot of appeal for some. What they never could answer was the question of what would happen if another tribe disagreed with their tribal philosophy. As enticing as withdrawing from the world can be, it isn't the answer, whether it is done as an individual or a group. History is littered with groups who failed. We don't even practice truth in our pluralism, becaue while we give lip service to the idea that truth is relative to your belief structure and heritage, we really believe that anyone who disagrees with us is wrong. Of course, there is no place where the absence of truth is so glaring as in the political arena. We don't even expect politicians to tell us the truth. We think they are all liars and that seems acceptable to us. What does that do to our expectations? We don't have any. Politicians are going to do whatever they want and we don't even hold them accountable. Worst of all, we seem to be offended by anyone who thinks they have a line on truth. Telling someone what you believe is true, whether about religion, politics or any other subject is almost verboten* in our society. Along with wanting to create our own version of truth, we don't want to know about anyone else's version. Will this attitude lead to more and more personal isolation? I think it will. I believe holding so securely to our own set of truths and refusing to allow credence to those of anyone else will bring all meaningful dialogue to a crashing halt one of these days. I believe it is self-perpetuating. The person or group that refuses to acknowledge and discuss the position of another will contract as those with differing views are squeezed out of the community. We will revert to something with decidedly unpleasant possibilities. The US Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident". Today we hold that all truth or no truth is evident. Artistry * verboten ~ forbidden (German) Discuss your views in The Forums at Xisti.com. Not registered? Click on the Register Now icon in the left column to join the community. |
|
|
|
|
|
