There is a rather famous story in Christianity. In fact, it may be one of the defining stories of the religion that 2 billion people adhere to. In my experience though, it is often rushed past. It is part of Jesus Christ's last day, in which so much happens that one may not remember the specifics. For the sake of all of us, I will recite the scene. For those of you who would like to read the scriptural account rather than my interpretation, read John 18 verses 28-40.
In this segment, Christ is in the throes of his judicial trials. He has been tried before the Sanhedrin as well as the High Priest, Caiaphas. He is finally brought before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor over Judea. Pilate is thoroughly confused as to why Christ was brought before him. He sees this case as a strictly Jewish matter, and this stance is only solidified by his questioning. Pilate asks Christ various questions, but the one that I think is most impactful to Pilate, and the question that should be most impactful to us, comes after Christ declares his purpose to Pilate. In the King James Version, Christ's statement is said, "Thous sayest I am a King. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth."
I can only imagine Pilate staring at Christ in this moment, thinking of the visions of his wife, as well as his general desire to stay out of the business of the Jews. He then utters three words that have greater meaning and weight than we ever grant them. He says, "what is truth?" or in latin, "Quid est veritas?"
I am not judge nor jury in Pilate's case, but I believe him to be a sincere man. This is all I will comment on this story, but I do want to delve deep into the philosophical implications that Pilate's sincere question has. To me, there are three branches of thought that come from this question. 1) What does truth consist of, 2) Is truth a finite element, and 3) How does one obtain truth. You may feel that certain religious beliefs you hold give answers to these questions, but as the playwright Eugene Ionesco wisely said, "It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question." So lets explore these questions without searching for an immediate answer.
The Stuff of Truth
The questions, "what does truth consist of," is interesting. Is there a single, ultimate truth by which all questions may gain an answer? Or does truth vary with the situation? Do truth and fact carry the same weight? Or is truth a much deeper understanding of fact?
To me, truth in ineffable and beyond comprehension. While we can observe the world around us and gain interpretation and fact, those only describe truth and never capture it entirely. Marcus Aurelius and Friedrich Nietzsche agree with me. They say, "Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." and "There are no facts, only interpretations." respectively.
My perspective may be chalked up to semantics, though. Truth has a lot of varying definitions and it has a very broad use within language. I want to end this section with one more quote from Nietzsche. Although he concedes that truth can never ultimately be attained, since truth doesn't exist in its pure sense within us, he does believe that one can come closer to truth through work. He says, "On the mountain of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow."
The Bounds of Truth
I think the question, "is truth a finite element," begs explaining. To use an analogy that many of you might know, in physics, it is stated that matter cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only be rearranged in space. This is known as the law of the conservation of matter. My question is, does truth follow the same principles? When the universe was formed and the laws of physics written, was all truth accounted for? Or is the book of truth amendable?
I have no fancy quotes for this one, just the rambling thoughts in my brain, so I'd be happy to hear your thoughts regarding this question.
To me, it makes sense that the book of truth is written and the pen put away. Billions of years ago, everything we know was set into motion, and as far as we can tell, there are a specific set of rule that govern the action of that everything. I see almost no reason as to why a the general truths of the universe would need to be amended.
I said almost. The one exception to this, for me at least, is life. Everything we observe in the universe is bound by entropy. Everything is on a slow, spiraling slope to destruction and disorganization. And that's the way it was for billions of years. Then, seemingly out of the blue, life occurs and acts in direct opposition to this fundamental law of the universe. All life eventually succumbs to entropy, but for a time, we fight it. We push back against the ancient lines of text the universe wrote billions of years ago. And for a select few of us, we gain the ability to understand and describe our efforts at pushing back. We develop science and philosophy, and question our place within the book of truth. Perhaps, when this happens, we create our own pens to write new lines of truth in the ancient book of the universe.
In Search of Truth
"How does one obtain truth?" A question for the ages. To this question, my only answer is ask more questions. That is the only way to climb the mountain of truth that Nietzsche mentioned earlier. If we never ask questions, we can never gain answers. The more answers we gain, the more perspective we receive. The more perspective we receive, the more full our picture becomes. As our world view expands before us, we begin to leave behind the interpretations of our childhood and gain a broader interpretation.
Without questions, we view life through a keyhole. We may be content with this perspective for a little while, but soon enough, we realize that there is more that we are missing. Asking questions is like asking for a key to that door. For a moment, you are blinded by the key, but the clarity of vision that is achieved by that moment of blindness gives us so much more than we could have every gained before.
As always, thanks for reading.
"If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things." -René Descartes