I love truth! There is much debate in philosophy as to the identity of truth. I would like to give my own definition of truth. Truth is the state of things as they have, do, and will exist. Much of what we call true is based on our perceptions. Truth can not change. Our perceptions of the truth may change but not truth itself. Truth can not be changed due to time, because truth relates to the actual existence of something in the time that it exists. It is impossible for people to define actual truth because it is impossible to perceive everything at once, but when people generally speak of truth it is their perceptions that they are referring to. In the same instance it is imposable to define future truth. No one can accurately describe what the future will be. There are to many variables involved. Still we may know that future truth exists because all things are in perpetual motion.
Let me use an example to illustrate. A young boy goes into a candy store and takes a candy bar. He eats the candy bar and is caught. The mother returns to the store with the boy and pays for the candy bar. Truth, the boy went into the store and took candy that did not belong to him. When he was caught he was not in the process of stealing, yet he did steal the candy in the past. If we applied many of the theories of truth we could say that because no one perceived him taking the candy bar he never took it. Or we could say that if everyone agreed that the candy was never taken that it never happened. This is of course ridiculous. The candy was eaten and no longer exists as a candy bar. No one was able to perceive that the boy would have stolen the candy or they would have stopped him. Thus the future was unknown. In the past the candy bar did exist. In the present the candy bar does not exist. No ones' perceptions effected events but the events did help to change the individuals’ perceptions.
For some reason people seem to fear the truth. People are more than happy being ignorant of all events not directly affecting them. Others seem to enjoy distorting other people’s perceptions of the truth. Some try to control people by manipulating perceptions. Others demand that everyone should view the world the way that they do. I simply enjoy learning. I love to be right, but if I should learn something new I get very excited.
It is essential for making wise and informed decisions that individuals have as large a perspective as possible. Perceptions can be dangerous things, for it is from our perceptions that people act or react. To act on a false perception can mean great danger for ourselves and others. I can not recall how many times this point has been emphasised in Hollywood. Most of the really catchy movies or plays involve hidden plots that throw off the main character and almost always puts them into jeopardy.
If an accurate perception of the truth is so essential how do we arrive at any kind of understanding as to what the truth is? I will not answer this question, but I am going to look at a number of different ways of deriving truth and offer my opinion. I will then let the reader decide how it is best to learn "truth".
Face Value
We can accept truth as it is presented to us, at face value. Thus the quote "Seeing is believing". This is also a kind of child's understanding. It is an innocent, unquestioning type of learning that a lot of people exercise out of trust. This method is effective if the source of "truth" is dependable and accurate. More often than not, most sources are not dependable and are based on other unknown sources. Many sources of knowledge are created with the intent to deceive. This makes it extremely hard to rely on face value as a practical source of truth. Still, this is the source that a good majority of people use.
Searching Judgment
We can search out the sources. Today more than ever there are infinite resources available to us. Looking for the source of some small bit of information can sometimes be like the needle in the hay stack. It can be worth it if by determining the source of the information we can determine the authors intent. In order to use this tool effectively we need judgment.
Judgment is based on experiences, whether ours or someone else's. It is the old trial and error method. Based on experiences from the past it can be determined what will occur in the future. These predictions are not always accurate because as stated earlier there are too many variables involved.
Scientific Method
The scientific method is the intellectual method for finding truth. The steps are easy to follow. First, develop a hypothesis based on a general observations. Once you have a hypothesis try to disprove or explain it using experimentation. After a series of experiments the results are used to create a Theory. If in the results observations are made that is so hard to disprove that it resembles a fact then it is considered a law. Laws are often used to explain theories. The problem for scientific method is that there is no absolute truth. Even laws are subject to scrutiny. In order to remedy the uncertainty and to better justify their own theories many scientists resort to a different kind of scientific method. In stead of trying to disprove their hypothesis they resort to every means conceivable to prove it true, and discount any opposing views as false. However, so long as the scientific method accepts the limitations of human observation there will always be varying opinions within the scientific community.
Faith
Faith truth is probably the most common form of truth finding. It is the opinion of truth based solely on an emotion. Faith truth is found in the religious as well as the non-religious. Whenever anybody holds to an ideal or principle simply because it feels right to them they are exercising faith truth. Of all forms of truth faith truth is the strongest. People have a far greater tendency to act on their emotions than they do to act on their reason. The greatest trouble with faith truth is the vast conflict of emotions that human beings are capable of. Those who let their emotions direct their actions are often unstable and hard to predict. They change their actions quickly and always reflect by saying, "It felt good at the time." Some exercise a little more control by focusing on certain key emotions such as joy, excitement, fear, or anger. They let these key emotions be the triggers for acting out in some way that is justifiable to them. Most religions of the world focus on specific key emotions as sources for truth. Among the more popular faiths calm, peace, and serenity are focal points. Many teach that fear is a good way of knowing if something is wrong.
Intellectuals often look at faith truth as nonsense, and ridiculously simple. I disagree by pointing out that it is simple human nature and many of the intellectuals use the same feelings to guide their research. Little is understood about human feelings. Psychology tries to explain it but with little success. I look at it in much the same way as the four senses of sight, sound, smell, and touch. Each sense is very complex but very useful in building our perceptions of the world around us. Nor are they perfect, but in fact very limited. Something might look smooth and wet, but until you touched it with your hands you would never know that it was sticky and dry. I feel the inner emotions are another type of sense. They can give use guidance, but they need to be used properly. Nor can we depend solely on emotions alone to guide us.
I personally believe that God is the source of knowledge or truth. He gave us eyes to see, ears to hear, fingers to write, and minds to understand. He has the perspective that can see things as they exist past, present, and future. Why he does not just reveal it to us is because he desires for us to seek it. He wants us to seek after him. Then in seeking we can find. I try to follow the council from my church which says, as though God were speaking, "...study it out in your mind; and then ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought...".
