What is Truth?

Intro

Recently, I was challenged to write about “my Truth.” Considering the thousands of years we’ve been laboring over exactly what truth is, it seemed pretty much like a fool’s errand. But after some reflection, I considered it a good way to do the type of examination commonly practiced this time of year, that is examining myself and my place in the universe. The following is a list of definitions for “truth,” encountered while writing this piece.

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.

Next, a consideration of “My Truth.”

My Truth or The Truth (?)…

My truth is not necessarily yours, because from my perspective all truth is relative anyway. Personal truths are based on whatever baggage we happen to wrap them in. Perhaps truth is an illusion, or at least a misnomer. There are facts, that depending on how they are assembled and viewed, may confirm or deny the truths of others.

A truth – one exists; experience seems to dictate – the rest is interpretation of stimuli presented to our brains through electrical/chemical stimulation from this quantum stew we call reality or life. But there are a few things that most of us share, if for no other reason than that we are living in the same place (relatively speaking), and in the same span of time…

So, what of this question of “my truth?” It is a lifetime on planet earth, from the middle of the 20th Century CE and into the 21st, with all that entails. It’s having been born, raised, and “educated” within the American Empire, with its culture, propaganda, morals (and lack thereof), including a lifetime of wars, thanks to our corporate and banking overlords and the American military-industrial complex – our, and the world’s masters of war, along with the demise of enlightenment principles due (at least in part) to the resurgence of a religious extremism not seen since the middle ages, mainly from the Abrahamic religions (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity), and the Dominionist push in the US for a Christian sharia type law, sanctioned by the United “Christian” States of America, regardless of our Constitution. They want a Christian Theocracy, where only wealthy, white male, Christians have “equal rights.” Everyone else must (of course) do as they are told and be thankful that they are not in debtors prison or some other such gulag.

Then we have the wealthiest, most powerful elites of the world killing the planet for profit, that is, their own psychopathic greed; destroying the oceans, air, and land; fucking with the climate past repair; forcing the rest of humanity into poverty and slavery. Of course, they don’t call it that, but wage slavery is no less brutal than that of the slave traders of old, or of the Conquistadors and their colonization and plunder for Church, King, and Country. They seem on the verge of achieving a global Neo-Feudalism, which is exactly what these plutocrats want, have always wanted.

And finally, the old standby for feudal lords and dictators, surveillance of the ruled populations (not to mention their friends and enemies), and that, only to avert threats to their own wealth and power, with secret police, secret courts, and secret laws. And if anyone inside (for conscience sake) lets the rest of us know what foul deeds are actually going on, they are hunted down and silenced through things like “the Espionage Act” and accusations of “Sedition,” or the like, “unpatriotic,” and such. In other words, someone told the truth to the masses, and in the second case, had the audacity to call it what it was, or specified who allowed or sanctioned those foul, hidden facts, episodes, policies, or knavery.

That’s a huge chunk of my truth, here on planet Earth in the early 21st Century CE; what’s yours?

–LE

Bipartisan usually means that a larger-than-usual deception is being carried out. –George Carlin

Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity. –George Carlin

Conservatives say, if you don’t give the rich more money, they will lose their incentive to invest. As for the poor, they tell us they’ve lost all incentive because we’ve given them too much money. –George Carlin