Truth Be Told

What is truth? This question may be rivaled in complexity only by “Why are we here?” Throughout time, humankind has sought out truth. Truth is at the root of our existence and some say the purpose of our existence. In order to understand the meaning of truth, we must first qualify the classification of the definition. The word, truth, itself carries different meanings across several planes. There are sometimes subtle and other times vast differences in the meaning of the word when discussing academic or historical truth, legal truth, self-evident truth, religious truth, or personal truth.

In all aspects, truth is based and built upon the academic definition of the word. The academic definition gives the following for the word truth: “the true or actual state of a matter; conformity with fact or reality” (Dictionary.com, 2006). This idea of conformity to fact is what gives meaning to the idea of historical or scientific truth. In these realms, truth is a fact that has been proven through accepted methods or has occurred historically. Truth, in this sense, is based on the past and what has already been and may bear no meaning on the future.

When considering the meaning of truth as it pertains to legality we must introduce a new aspect: reasonable doubt. In the legal world, truth is often defined as that which can be proven to be fact beyond a reasonable doubt. This means that we must only go so far in determining something to be true. What may not, in reality, be an accurate reflection of fact, can be deemed the truth in a court of law. We can see evidence of this in those who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit. Their guilt was deemed as truth through evidence to a point “beyond reasonable doubt.”

Self-evident truth is a type that we don’t speak of very often, but our lives in the United States are based on it. The U.S. declared freedom with these words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…” (Declaration of Independence, 1776). This idea that truth exists on its own accord and that certain facts are given the title of truth automatically is at the very core of freedom.

The idea of truth being self-evident may be drawn from religious truth. A truth that is based on faith and beliefs is difficult to argue. From the beginnings of our human existence, there have been religious leaders offering new versions of religious truth. Religious truth is the belief that truth is sent from a power beyond our comprehension and commands unwavering belief in that truth with faith, regardless of our ability to understand that truth. From the early teachings of Krishna to the modern Baha’i religion, the idea of religious truth remains the same.

Personal truth is born from and plays a part in all of the other kinds of truth. What this means is that we each have our own perspective, and so each have our own personal truths. What is true for me may not be truth for you. “The truth is always a compound of two half- truths, and you never reach it, because there is always something more to say.” (Tom Stoppard). For example: You are standing on one side of the street, while I am on the other. A car drives by. The side of that car facing me is painted black while the side that faces you is painted white. For each of us a different truth exists. For you, a white car has just driven by, while for me, a black one has. While neither of us is wrong in our perception of the truth, we each have our own different truth as it pertains to the same action. One of my favorite quotes on personal truth is, “Your whole life is nothing but a dream. You live in a fantasy where everything you know about yourself is only true for you. Your truth is not the truth for anyone else…” (Don Miguel Ruiz, 1999, p. 55).

As we can see, the definition of truth is not only dependent on the context it is taken from, but also on the perspective from which it is viewed, as well as on the context to which it will be applied. I suppose this means that there is no simple truth to be told.

(This essay was written as a class assignment….. I thought I would share it with you.)