Truth. The word has been bastardized and prostituted.

How many people, how many religions, philosophies and political ideologies have laid claim to it?

I used to honestly believe I knew what truth was. Family and leaders I looked up to (all good people) also 'knew' what truth was.

There seem to be two 'truths': science and the mushy malleable realm of faith. Scientific truth can be tested and challenged. The truth of faith is subjective and often unchallenged.

The only truth I assuredly know after several decades here on Adventureland Earth is this:

"The truth will set you free but first it will piss you off" - Gloria Steinem

The brutality of truth

Truth is brutal. It is non-compromising to circumstance. It is what it is and not what we may want it to be. It will withstand scrutiny. Truth is devastating to the liar. They can be called to account for their lies and will almost a;ways become belligerent and violent when exposed. However truth will not be thwarted. It will force it's way to the fore and demand attention.

+1

"tis the fairest gem..."

After searching for several months for the truth, I have only discovered what it isn't.

Truth is in the eye of the beholder. I say this because my family members who are in the church don't seem to realize that just because something is true for them doesn't mean it's true for everyone. They may be happy living in the church. I was not. Just because something works for you doesn't mean it works for everyone.

nightwolf983 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Truth is in the eye of the beholder. I say this
> because my family members who are in the church
> don't seem to realize that just because something
> is true for them doesn't mean it's true for
> everyone.

I have a problem with that, nightwolf, which is "the Law of Mutual Exclusion." Differing absolutes cannot both (or all) be right if they contradict each other, no matter how sincerely or fervently one believes in that absolute.

DavetheAtheist (and others) believes that his conscious existence, along with his body, will cease to exist when his brain is dead.
Spiritist may believe that he will ascend through various levels of consciousness to a higher self.
A Mormon may believe he's got his ticket punched for the CK.
Caffiend believes that there will be an eternal, irrevocable separation of the "saved" and the "lost."

We like to think this is a matter of "what works." I prefer to think of this as a matter of what is TRUE. I believe that each of the above, and others, is absolutely entitled to hold such beliefs, to be treated with respect, and to live and die accordingly. However, I do not believe that they can all be true, i.e., "to each his own heaven." Only one, at most, can be right.

Not all of them.

PS I concur with Desertman: "Truth is brutal."

For truth to be in the eye of the beholder it must be reduced to a specific definition, and then redefined for each situation.

Truth: The state of being true

True: The state of being in accordance with fact

Fact: A piece of information


And abracadabra truth is a matter of perspective.

nightwolf983 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Truth is in the eye of the beholder. I say this
> because my family members who are in the church
> don't seem to realize that just because something
> is true for them doesn't mean it's true for
> everyone. They may be happy living in the church.
> I was not. Just because something works for you
> doesn't mean it works for everyone.


Exactly! Who determines what is truth? Your truth is not mine, nor mine yours. But I do love the Gloria Steinem quote provided by the OP

"The truth will set you free but first it will piss you off" - Gloria Steinem



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2016 06:34PM by cinda.

Truth is the thing that gets in the way of expediency.

That is what Boyd Packer was trying to tell the faithful in his fabled talk, "The mantle is far, far greater than the intellect."

When Boyd said, "Sometimes the truth isn't very useful," what he meant was, the truth does not always serve the church's interests, and instead we should promote expediency, so that what we communicate is advantageous to the church, rather than fair, or just, or true.

The Truth is only the truth if it sets your preconceived notions about it free. That can be a good or bad or neutral thing.

Many Eastern traditions seem closer to The Truth as science has observed it in a few things.

The Hebrew tradition religions not so much. Maybe Jewish Mysticism has something in it that will set a person free? I don't know. Mormonism has nothing in it to set a person free and that is why the oft said phrase "endure to the end" rings so true for Mormons.

Mormons, who have sung for generations about TRVTH being "the fairest gem" are beginning to find out that it's not so fair and ain't no gem, after all. It is hurting them, causing their religion to flicker and pop like a bad light bulb. Truth is scary, they think, as they fabricate even more ridiculous notions and stories in order to camouflage the image of truth.

Still another thought now came to mind. *Why was I so obsessed about truth?*

And the answer to that also came clear and clean. *Because there is only the truth and nothing but the truth.*

But a wee small voice objected, saying: “Literature is something else again.” Then to hell with literature! *The book of life, that’s what I would write.*

And whose name will you sign to it?

*The Creator's.*

That seemed to settle the matter.

--Henry Miller--
--Nexus--

"And priceless the value of truth will be when
the proud monarch's costliest diadem
is counted buy dross and refuse."


I loved this hymn as a Mormon. I chose this particular hymn to be sung at my missionary homecoming.

I love this hymn even more now as an ex-Mormon. To be a Mormon was to be a prisoner within the walls of my own mind. But Mormonism did teach me to diligently seek after truth - and thus they provided me with the keys to escape that prison.


"Do what is right, let the consequence follow"

That is another message from another Mormon hymn that I still treasure to this day.