I’ve been thinking allot about the idea that Truth will set you free. I don’t mean in the religious sense that the Christians use it, yet the point I’m making could be applied to them. But the fact is, by knowing what is correct, right, and true, it actually binds you morally into doing what you know to be true. It’s like a maths sum, 1 + 1 = 2. Because 1 is true, and + ‘add’ is a form of truth. So, 1 + 1 must equal 2. If it doesn’t then an illogical action has occurred, an error.
This touches a little on the same idea as the tread by ‘Adam’, called ‘Freedom’.
So how can a person be freed by knowing the truth? Yes, I know that they’re freed from a mistake, or an ill-conceived convection. But if Truth can set you free, it also makes you a liar! As if you don’t live by the known truth, you are deliberately committing a lie. So in the maths example this would mean 1 + 1 = 3, which is not true, it’s a lie. Or more practically, if you tell someone that they can jump out of a plane 30,000 feet up, without a parachute and live, that would be a lie as its not possible.
A life of Truth is more of a prison then a life of unknown truth. At least if you live in ignorance because you can’t know what is true, you’re actions are more morally free then when you do know the truth. As it becomes immoral to act in anyway that violates what is known to be true. As telling a lie is morally wrong.
So I’m then led to ask, do we really want the truth? What is True, is a loaded question. As when most people ask this they already have preconceived ideas about what answers they’re going to find. People already know what they want to believe; what they are really asking is, “What will make me happy and sleep better at night?†To ask, “What is Truth?†and really mean it is a very dangerous thing. You have to be willing to question and criticize everything you have ever believed. To walk an uncomfortable road that leads you on paths sometimes better left untravelled. It’s to be willing to open up yourself to new ways of viewing the world as a whole, without any of psychological protective ideas we trap our minds in.
For example: I have a friend that likes to build computers and sell them on. He’s always buying the cheapest components he can find. He then builds the PC, but out of every 10 normally he’ll have problems with 6, as the parts he buys have a low level of quality. The reason you pay more is because the manufacturer engineers the part to a higher level, and tests more extensively. All this adds to the cost of each unit’s price. While you initially pay more it means you’ll have fewer problems in the long run. No matter how hard I try to explain this, he just can’t understand it. Because all he is thinking about is the amount of money he is paying out. This blinds him to the truth. That if he spends a little more money on the parts used, he will save time, which is worth more money to him then the extra cost of each part. My friend’s inability to see the truth is caused by his love of money, to him to buy the more expensive parts always seems like a waist of his profit margin.
While on the same note but from a different angle. One of my uncles is a Plumber; he also uses cheap parts when working. But he calls it, “making work for the apprentice.†As he knows this will make him more money in the future. Here the understanding of the truth is used to make more money. But is what he’s doing morally wrong, or just making sure he can feed his family?
Any thought?
Pax Vitae
