“To tell you the truth” and “As a matter of fact” are common
sentences all of us use to make our point. But what is “fact” and what is
“truth”? Ray Jeannotte Langley of British Columbia points out in a letter to
the Editor of Scientific American (July, 2022, page 6) that “The word ‘truth’
is elemental, and its misuse (unintentional or intentional) promotes division”.
We know that the words “facts” and “truth” do not mean the
same thing. Facts are objective, impersonal and can be verified. Truth is
personal and a subjective assertion.
In religious and spiritual texts, we read about truth with a
small t and Truth with a big T. When someone says, “The truth is…..”, the
listeners need to be extra careful.
What does that word “truth” mean when it is preceded by “the”
or when the word begins with a capital T? Whether the word is used by saints or by ordinary folks, I get the feeling that the user knows what it means. It has a personal meaning for that individual. But the way the word is used, with a
big T, or with preceding “the”, one gets the feeling the writer really knows
what that word should mean. If you and I did not get it, it is our problem.
The point is that truth is a word which categorizes a set of
thoughts. But the way it is used, it sounds as if there is a “higher” truth and
a “lower” truth and if you do not get what the writer is defining, you are
thinking about the “lower” truth. We are caught in words and categories which
often ends in arguments and differing “camps”.
I hope what “wisdom-people” and Saints use the
word Truth with the capital T to stimulate us to look at nature deeply and think on our own. I hope they did not intend it to call our thinking as
lower, or as a dogma to follow or to proselytize.
Besides, the truth of any statement should align with
verifiable facts and its usefulness and not with “absolute certainty”. Our mind
functions in this world with incomplete information and best available
evidence. Facts provide that information and someone’s professed truth.
In this era of “alternative truth” and “truthiness” (of
Stephen Colbert), Ray Jeannotte Langley’s advice is timely: “Communicating
facts instead of truth is a good place to start”.
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