I had a friend who, whenever we used to go to a nightclub, would immediately check for the fire exit.
Only when he had located it would he allow himself to relax into the intoxicating hedonism of the night.
It was entirely sensible. If danger broke out we could quickly leave - there was always that opportunity to snap back to reality.
Often, truth works that way too. We like to think of truth as a great revelation or a soild undeniable fact, but the truth is most meaningful to us when it offers a unique chance to break free, especially if it's freedom from ourselves.
When dreams go wrong
We can enjoy the dream for as long as we like, but when the dream becomes a nightmare, that's when we need the truth to wake us up.
This, however, seems to be the danger of religion. A famous philosopher once described religion as a social drug, allowing us to escape from the pain of life. Yet, ironically, the whole basis of religion is the search for truth and meaning. The issue is that when a 'truth' offers us freedom from oppression we tend to grab it with both hands and we don't want to let go and that can be a mistake.
I suppose there are then two ways of working out if the truth we grasp onto is indeed true. One is to let it go and try to understand if it is truly necessary for our freedom. The other is to cling to it and let the trials of time and trouble prove whether this truth has any validity.
The danger of the first option is that the dream is usually preferable to reality. We may not like the truth we find and so we choose the lie instead. But the danger of the second can be that we hold so tightly to the truth that we don't allow ourselves to explore how robust it really is. Then the truth itself becomes a lie, it's another kind of dream or worse because sometimes the truth can turn in on itself, becoming ugly in its expression.
My apologies for sounding so morbid, but it's fascinating to think that truth has the power to enslave as well as offer freedom.
Mystery revealed
The ancient Greeks has a curious understanding of the word mystery. As I understand it, it didn't infer something that was hidden from knowledge but something to be explored. Something that was never quite graspable but something that was there to be perceived nonetheless.
I think this is our best understanding of truth. We might cling to it as a rock in the storm, but when things are calmer, we should take the opportunity to discover how great the rock that rescued us is.
Only when he had located it would he allow himself to relax into the intoxicating hedonism of the night.
It was entirely sensible. If danger broke out we could quickly leave - there was always that opportunity to snap back to reality.
Often, truth works that way too. We like to think of truth as a great revelation or a soild undeniable fact, but the truth is most meaningful to us when it offers a unique chance to break free, especially if it's freedom from ourselves.
When dreams go wrong
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| The truth can be a slippery thing |
This, however, seems to be the danger of religion. A famous philosopher once described religion as a social drug, allowing us to escape from the pain of life. Yet, ironically, the whole basis of religion is the search for truth and meaning. The issue is that when a 'truth' offers us freedom from oppression we tend to grab it with both hands and we don't want to let go and that can be a mistake.
I suppose there are then two ways of working out if the truth we grasp onto is indeed true. One is to let it go and try to understand if it is truly necessary for our freedom. The other is to cling to it and let the trials of time and trouble prove whether this truth has any validity.
The danger of the first option is that the dream is usually preferable to reality. We may not like the truth we find and so we choose the lie instead. But the danger of the second can be that we hold so tightly to the truth that we don't allow ourselves to explore how robust it really is. Then the truth itself becomes a lie, it's another kind of dream or worse because sometimes the truth can turn in on itself, becoming ugly in its expression.
My apologies for sounding so morbid, but it's fascinating to think that truth has the power to enslave as well as offer freedom.
Mystery revealed
The ancient Greeks has a curious understanding of the word mystery. As I understand it, it didn't infer something that was hidden from knowledge but something to be explored. Something that was never quite graspable but something that was there to be perceived nonetheless.
I think this is our best understanding of truth. We might cling to it as a rock in the storm, but when things are calmer, we should take the opportunity to discover how great the rock that rescued us is.
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