So, during lunch, I bought, "To Know As We Are Know," by Parker J. Palmer. The discussion of the day centered around chapter 4, "What is Truth?"
So, what is truth?
How about truthiness?
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Word - Truthiness | ||||
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In his own satirical way, Colbert affirms Palmer's view that "all truth is known in personal relationships," (48) and is not found in Webster's or Britannica.
I have friends from all walks of life, in far reaching placing, and with a variety of views on religion and the existence (or non-existence) of God. Some of us are compelled to express our stance and attempte to convince others using logic, reason, and fact.
Unfortunately logic, reason, and fact, don't go very far. When it comes down to it people are going to believe what they believe because of their personal experiences with that particular religion, or with God.
People want to feel their faith in very personal ways. Their own personal truth is created in their community.
Palmer lends some support to the idea that "non-believers" are inherently "spiritual seekers" because of human nature. [Christians would say, because of God's creation.]
He says on page 50,
"To say that truth is personal is to affirm the image of truth that lies within each person, regardless of creed or institutional affiliation. Indeed, if truth is personal, then creeds and institutions are only the objectified shells of the truth-seeking life that pules in every human heart. We will find truth not in the fine points of our theologies or in our organizational allegiances but in the quality of our relationships - with each other and with the created world."
I love that- the idea that we each have a truth seeking life pulsing in our hearts.
What's pulsing in your heart? Are you seeking life? Are you seeking truth? What barriers are stopping you from experiencing the truth of the world, in its people, nature and creatures? Politics? Religion? Hatred? Racism? Anger? ...
Fun to see this again! I haven't watched it in years. It strongly reaffirms for me why it's so important that Palmer talks about "wholesight" -- seeing with both the eyes of the mind, and the eyes of the heart; that we need both, in community, to access truth.
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