There’s a really big difference in truths. You might not have thought so: in the dictionary, it says something is true, or it isn’t. The reality is, truth can be dependent. Absolute truth is just what it says: something is as in the dictionary: true or not true. It takes a long time to find absolute truth in certain situations, and in others, absolute truth is crystal clear immediately, readily apparent to all. Such as when a math equation spits out an answer: you can rely on it to be true, as long as the math formula was true.
Truth can be dependent on situations. Situations look like an American football, or a canoe: beginning with an intention, widening with possible perspectives, those different outcomes to the situation that are possible. Maxing out with the collection of all the stakeholders in the situation, weighing in and sharing viewpoints, as the truth is distilled. The distillation then reduces those possible outcomes, those possible truths, to just one, two, or a few, and then we make a decision and there’s closure: it is the truth, you see. It could be a temporary truth, or the final truth: that is the difference in our truths.
If I buy a cheeseburger, or a car, it is true that I now have either the cheeseburger, or the car. That car is sitting outside my home: it is definitely the truth that I bought it.
Is it the absolute truth? If it was a lemon, then no, I would still have to buy a good car, and my car-buying situation hasn’t ended with the real truth yet. But we need to look at bigger situations to explore that question, we have to talk about the really big decisions that leave us with very long-term outcomes. If they aren’t the real truth, it might take a very long time to start working towards that again. Some decisions we have to live with for a long time, with less than satisfactory results that created problems in the next situation we tried to build from there.
But if we have found an absolute truth, then that old situation was settled. For good. It is a persistent decision, a persistent result that can be a building block for our future. If it is really great, it will be in the world for a very long time. If a song is really great such as Beethoven’s 5th, it will be in the world for a very long time. A property of information is that it persists in the universe, unlike energy that has to be fueled by matter for example. The absolute truth remains. Bic lighters haven’t changed since they were invented in the 60s. We have many “classic” cars. The black light from the 70s, the vinyl record from early 20th century, and the bikini. The scepter and orb symbols of divine power are still held by the King of England, as they were by Emperor Constantine.
If our physics about orbital mechanics is true, then it is true that the moon will shine full once every lunar period of time, for a very very long time. This is absolute truth: we all can agree, yes? Do you see? Once we really are certain, we won’t be arguing: its an absolute truth. Took a long while for people to be 100% certain the sun would rise every morning, and the moon would be full about once a month, but now everyone just knows its the truth.
In our lives, we are faced with what I like to call Relative Truths a whole lot more often than we encounter Absolute Truth. But, humans have always been able to find absolute truth, and we have been doing so in better, faster, and cheaper ways, accelerating knowledge exponentially, because information is an increasing force of nature. We live in a world where scientists like me try to find the truth in mathematical ways in all aspects of our lives. A relative truth is one that ends a situation, but only temporarily: we find out later something else was really true, and we evolve the situations towards that absolute truth we were seeking. It is very satisfactory when 1 + 1 = 2.
As we find those absolute truths, people become aware eventually, either slowly or quickly in a viral situation. When we get there, we are usually happy about it, because we can finally agree about whatever that was. We can put it to bed, and we can then rely on that truth for doing things that develop from there. We can be fairly certain that the light will come on when we flip the switch these days. 100 years ago, there was a lot more uncertainty. Relative truths are the result of temporary situations. Temporary ones are inside the larger situation that leads to real success, where absolute truths can be found. There is a real technology that makes that light switch work every single time: we just don’t have it in hand yet, but people are still working on it.
Relative truths are the subjects of our arguments, as we try to figure out what is absolute truth. If you are in an unsatisfactory situation, you can be assured there is a “real-truth” problem. When we find absolute truths, we are happy people. These truths fully end the seeking situation, and they never need any more work. What we need is to do is acknowledge both the uncertainties of relative truths, and we might acknowledge one of the purposes of life is to seek situations where we can rely on absolute truths. When we can live in Today, live in easy moments of now, when we have very little to be uncertain about. It is true: certainty yields happiness in our minds, and for all living things.
So when you see an unsatisfactory situation or unhappy people, please just know this: we just haven’t found the absolute truth for that situation yet. We are dealing with relative truths, so we have to keep trying, we have to keep talking to each other to find real absolute truths. Let’s seek the real truths together, so we can enjoy their bountiful fruits soonest. Together.
Bill Custer's thought sphere 