Disentangling Truth from Facts
Sometimes, I get round to thinking. Not often, but sometimes. One of the things that I’ve been thinking about lately is the nature of truth.
You see, truth is a slippery thing. I get the impression that a lot of fundamentalist believers and non-believers present a very limited view of truth at times. The limited view that I’m talking about is the one that presents facts as truth, and truth as facts.
Now, I’m pretty sure that anything that is factual is true. But should we really think that something must be factual to be true? For example, there are those that believe that Bible to be literal fact. And there are those (including me) who say that it is not.
But to my mind, the whole thing is irrelevant. Because the facts don’t form all the truth in the world. Think about the tale of the tortoise and the hare. I’m going to stick my neck out and say that there aren’t and never have been any hares and tortoises racing each other. But if you have any familiarity with Aesop’s fables, it’s easy to see that that’s missing the point. It isn’t factual, but it is truthful.
Other kinds of truth, are more helpful than facts. They illustrate important lessons about the meaning of life. They can lead us to a greater and more meaningful understanding of our existence. They can enable us to be better human beings, if we take them to heart. These are the truths that I seek.
You might argue that without authority behind a text, you won’t know when there is truth in it. Nobody said that things were going to be easy. We all bring our past experiences, knowledge and understanding to bear as we try to discern truth, we do the best we can with the tools that we have. Some truths come quickly and easily, and others elude us for a lifetime, but there is no other way.
If a religious text is to have any value at all, then I don’t care whether it is factual, it must be true.
Image by Eric Charlton
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A Little Light Reading: It’s Cold Edition
It’s very, very cold in my house, even with the heating on full all day. This means that when I’m not running round tidying up, I’ve spent all day making myself hot drinks and wrapping up in extra blankets. Anyway, some of the great posts that I’ve read this week include:
- I have always relied on the kindness of strangers - true kindness is a quality that there can never be too much of
- The Devil in the Dark - ignore the geekiness of it, Star Trek had a great influence on the ethics and morals of several generations
- Book Review: Parenting Beyond Belief - if you want some help, putting into place a secular framework for your kids, then you might be in the market for a book like this
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The Pursuit of Happiness
Even though I’m English, I’m still objective enough to realise that one of the most important texts of the eighteenth century was the American Declaration of Independence. From the beginning, and in the phrase “we hold these truths to be self-evident” it speaks to our better nature, it is inclusive, and collective.
At the time, the ideas held in the Declaration of Independence were pretty radical - the ideas of human rights that have become expressed in various 20th century declarations were new and to some people disturbing. One of the characteristic features of the American declaration is that it holds that all men (not just Americans) have the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It is certainly true that in Western Europe we have taken to these rights like a duck to water. In the European Union, capital punishment is outlawed, and even in the most trigger happy of the more developed countries its use is reserved for the most serious of cases. Liberty, and by extension, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to a fair trial are the cornerstones of modern democracy.
The pursuit of happiness in the form of increased leisure time and material wealth, could be viewed as one of the myriad of benefits of the industrial revolution and the post-industrial world. But although I like my leisure time, and am not against increasing my own material wealth, I don’t think that these bring me true happiness.
Rather happiness comes, I think, with living a deeply fulfilling life. A fulfilled person occupies their time with worthwhile things - not just worthy things. They live a virtuous life. They may be religiously inclined or they may not, but they have values which they seek to put into practice.
Let us try to go for happiness and not wealth or endless leisure.
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