16-Truth Is Not What You Think It Is
“The truth can never be told so as to be understood and not believed” – William Blake
NOTE – I wrote this several years ago and never published it. I guess I thought I would “clean it up”. Now, I don’t think I need to. It says what I meant to say. I figure I’d better get it out while I still believe it… -- HM
If immutable truth exists--and I believe it does-- it is not temporal
For time is change
Something that does not change is not of time
Everything in our universe changes
If there is something you believe does not change, you haven’t waited long enough
Truth can therefore only cast a shadow in our universe
Like a river running around a rock
The river reflects the truth of the rock as it runs past, constantly changing to adapt to each part of the rock it touches
The surface of the river “sees” different shapes to the rock depending on the depth and the speed of the water
The rock isn’t changing shape, but the water is as it passes around it
We are like the surface of the river
Immutable truth is the rock
This is obviously Platonic
I have no problem with that
Plato was right
We can know truth only through the shadows it casts in our world
The impressions truth makes on the river of time
Therefore, truth as we see it changes
This does not make it less true, in our world or any other
It just makes it elusive
The truth can never be told so as to be understood and not believed
We have a sense of truth
Our mistake is our tendency to believe that something that was once true will remain true
It won’t
It’s not that it might not remain true
It won’t remain true
It’s only a matter of time
We must each trust our inner sense of truth in the present place and moment
If that sense tells us one thing is true one day and another is true the next day
We must trust that
I think this is why people who try to express immutable truth tell stories
Stories, like truth, can have different meanings in different times and different contexts
Haven’t you ever felt that a “truism” that you find valuable has a useful lifespan?
For a while you repeat it at appropriate times and it helps you and others
It is evidence of wisdom
It is wisdom
Then it begins to wear out
It doesn’t sound so good or wise
It may even sound foolish
We don’t like that
We make the other mistake of believing that if it is foolish now, it must have always been foolish
We were just too foolish to realize it
We are smarter now
Sometimes we are so afraid of being uncovered as foolish that we cling to the old understanding no matter how foolish it sounds
But no, it’s just worn out
Let it go
You were wise when it was wisdom
Be wise enough now to let it go now that it seems foolish
The truth has moved on
Move on with it
Maybe it will be true again someday
Of all the things that we do in time
Thought is the most resilient
Yet, thought is temporal
It may be that thought is time itself
One way or another
Just like the river can never know the rock for what it really is
Thought can never know truth for what it really is
Of this you can be sure (for now)
If you can write it, read it, hear it, say it…if you can think it
It is not truth as truth truly is
It may be true in context of the world of the moment
As such it is more valuable than gold
But it will fade into foolishness eventually
And another understanding will take its place
Truth is not what you think it is
Hugh Moffatt
Nashville
April 13, 2011