In pursuit of “Truth” : The dance of elusion

I was raised Christian. The purpose of my life at some point was to convert all none Christians to be Christians. It did not matter which religion they had, if there were not Cchristian, they were lost sheep that needed to be redirected to Christ. I am still Christian, but my Christianity today is different for the Christianity I pursued years ago. Why? I came across new information and I embraced it.

What is truth? I remember back when I was growing up, I had a clarity about what was right and what was wrong — I mean, that was easy. But was I right? Something can be so true to you in a certain moment that you cannot imagine a different truth ever existing. I am sure before they they discovered that the earth was spherical, no one could believe it was not flat. At that time, everything pointed to this truth — a horizontal earth. We know trees grow from seeds, or do they? The sky is blue? or is it? There are two distinct genders and sexuality — or is there more? What else do we know? Or do we even know it?

What has been apparent in my experience is that everything we know is true to us, until we decide that it is not true, for one reason or the other. What we consider to be “my truth”, “truth” or “our truth” is what we decided to believe. What we believe is determined by a lot of factors, two of which are the way we were brought up and what we were made to believe at that time, and our personal experiences.

Each individual lives within some set of “truths” that form the principles and values of their lives. A child raised by an abusive alcoholic parent will probably associate alcohol with violence, abuse, loss of control, shame etc. In the same way, a child raised within religious principles that do not allow alcohol consumption may associate alcohol with indiscipline and immorality. On the other hand, a child raised by loving, disciplined, morally upright parents who drank alcohol regularly may associate alcohol with joy, laughter, fun and dancing. Each of these children is justified in their perception of what alcohol is and what it does. Is any of these children wrong? Which of these three children is correct? Which of these perceptions are true?

Whenever we have new experiences, especially when we have stepped out of our conditioning environment, we encounter new information. This happens to each of us so often, we may not even notice that it is happening. This new information tends to challenge what we already know as truth. The immediate and easiest reaction is to resist this new information and consider it invalid before we even have a chance to validate it. The painful and less frequent reaction and response is to allow ourselves to soak in this new information, challenge our current truth and validate either or both of these truths (sometimes they are not mutually exclusive).

The latter response is painful and about the hardest thing to go through. When I first encountered communities that were different from mine, I frequently got angry, depressed and had a feeling of being lost. My truth is the basis of my beliefs, and my beliefs the basis of my identity. Any information that challenged my truth, challenged my identity. Imagine a child who discovers that the parents who raised them are not their biological parents — and this child had no clue this was the case before. It feels as if your world has just fallen apart. “Who am I then? If all that I know is not true, then what about me is true?”

An interesting thing to note in reflection is that nothing in our real world actually changes, only our opinions and perceptions do.

If the above is correct, then our current truths are the truths that we have permitted to be considered truths in our life. These truths are instituted by a couple of things some of which are:

1. Fear: Fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of the known. Sometimes even if we have different information that invalidates the information we already have, we tend to be afraid of changing our position regarding that truth. We are afraid of what people will say, or how people will perceive us, and sometimes we are afraid of things we do not know. Fear can cause us to live a life of lies, even when the truth is staring us in the face.
2. Curiosity or a lack thereof: Sometimes, facts are presented that, in their own, pose a significant challenge to our current truths, but will need further investigations to be validated. If we are unwilling to pursue further, we may never know what lies behind the wall. Fear can be one of the reasons for lack of curiosity, but sometimes, it is in our nurture. I was raised not to ask questions, not to challenge the status quo, and if you were raised like I was, and do not challenge that truth (not to ask questions), so many other truths will pass you by.
3. Unwillingness to change: Some of us may investigate, and reach the ultimate truth (of the moment) but still refuse to change. Regardless of all the evidence around us, some people choose to believe global warming is a myth. Maybe it is. But what if it is not? It is just more comfortable to deny the truth than to change our lives in order to reflect it. Again, fear could be the basis of the unwillingness to change, but sometimes stubbornness and aggressive egos drive it too.

Once we pursue truth in our lives, it never comes as one definitive truth that caters for all the questions we have. It seems to come in stages. Just when you think you got a hang on the ultimate truth, new information presents itself. The pursuit of truth is a dance of elusion. “Catch me if you can,” Truth says.

It seems however, that if you do not embrace a first truth, a second truth will lie in wait. Can we get to a second truth before we have embraced a first truth? Resistance to new information stunts our growth.

There is no absolute truth about anything that is known to man. If man had all knowledge of all truths then the world would be a different place today. What is “truth” today may not necessarily be “truth” tomorrow.

Imagine then that the above is all true, how would you change the way you live your life everyday. If you knew that the basis of all your perceptions could be challenged and proven untrue today, would you be as confident making certain decisions? Accusing someone of being wrong? Declaring that someone deserves to die for their crime? All that hate speech? All that self righteousness? Would you still do it?

What if the sun actually rose from the north but still set in the west? What if your God was not the true God? Or there was a God, or no God? What if your religion was the result of a stray man, and not the true religion? What if the sky was blue or not blue? What if there were no distinct genders or sexuality? What if, everything you know today was proven to be wrong? What then? How would our lives be different?

I dare you to imagine what differences you would make to your daily life? Why are you not making them?