My Truth
Opinion, since human nature prevents anyone being a qualified arbiter of ‘truth’
Introduction
The idea of ‘personal truth’ started occurring to me in my 13th or 14th year; I was in junior high. While others (not all certainly, but many) of my age were preoccupied with sports, primping, hyper-masculinity or femininity (not that I was immune to the hormone rush), my proclivities were of a slightly different nature.
Having read some Plato and Kant (yes by age 13 or 14, and I had to struggle with it, increasing my vocabulary and linguistic perceptions exponentially), and seeing how argument techniques can be used to change (or redirect) the nature of ‘truth’, bringing into question the beliefs of my upbringing (indoctrination), I began a personal search for ‘truth’. And even at that early age, I began considering my ‘personal truth’, and started the process of ‘self actualization’…
Being a sickly child, not expecting to live a long fulfilling life, I also developed an interest in physical culture for health reasons. I had seen yoga on tv and read a little about it. I liked the philosophy and thus became interested in the culture that developed it. So I immersed myself in alternative explanations of reality for many years, including yogic traditions, Hinduism, and Buddhism. My study of Zen, and Taoist philosophies was a result of my interest in and initiation into a life-long pursuit of the martial arts. But I also delved into other ancient explanations, including druidism, wicca, and sorcery for explanations (much of my ancestry is Celtic).
The following is the result, some conclusions that continue to make sense to me even now, living in this neoliberal era, the death throes of the American Empire, and possible extinction from climate change, nuclear winter, and/or present or future pandemics.
Truth
Here are a few of the more common definitions one sees:
- Truth is one of the central subjects in philosophy. It is also one of the largest. Truth has been a topic of discussion in its own right for thousands of years.
- The quality or being true; as: conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be.
- Conformity to rule; exactness; close correspondence with an example, mood, object of imitation, or the like.
- That which is true or certain concerning any matter or subject, or generally on all subjects; real state of things; fact; verity; reality.
Continued in tomorrow’s post…
–LE
CynOp 
4 responses to “Philosophy – My Truth 1 of 2”
I think I got my first taste of philosophy when I was that age too, but the works of Kierkegaard were my fascination. I do not think I understood much of what he wrote at the time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know it’s a blasphamy, but I had no knowledge of Kierkegaard during my formative years, only had books on my parent’s bookshelves to begin with, Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Omar Khayyam… Being brought up in a very conservative household, I wasn’t exposed to Hegel, Schopenhouer, Kierkegaard, Marx, etc… Go figure…; -)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Meditations and the Republic seem to hold a fascinating allure to early teenagers. I tried to read them many times, but I do not think I ever finished them back then. I got introduced to Omar Khayyam through my second language Kannada lessons in school, which is quite ironic. Verses about wine to an underage kid… dangerous stuff.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“…dangerous stuff.”… Agreed, look where it got — ransformed — me. My parents were horrified but learned to live with it; they always blamed our school system for my hard left turn, not realizing the cause was their own bookshelf — irony of ironies…; -)
LikeLiked by 1 person