Absolute truth

Written by BRIAN LOCKHART

“The truth will set you free.”

The meaning of that phrase goes a lot deeper when you really give it some thought.

How many times have you heard a person start a sentence with “The truth is...” and follow it up with a sentence that is supposed to clarify a situation, an event, or a misconception?

Well the truth is about the way you see it and interpret those events.

Several years ago I used to work with a woman who had immigrated from Poland. We became pretty good friends over the years.

One day we were conversing on the subject of language. She was teaching me a little bit about Polish language structure and the absence of certain things we use in English, such as articles. Apparently there is no equivalent to the word ‘the' in Polish, which sort of explains why people from Eastern Europe have a tendency to speak a certain way when learning English.

We got on the subject of common phrases. I would say something like “a rolling stone gathers no moss,” and she would repeat the common saying in Polish and translate it to English.

Turns out the weird old sayings like ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” aren't unique to English at all. There may be slight differences, but those common phrases are used all over the place.

One of common phrase, ‘history is written by the victors' is known across the world. It has been attributed to Winston Churchill but he actually borrowed it from someone else.

What is means, is the truth that is written down in the history books is always recorded in the point of view of those who won the war.

In any revolution, the ‘truth' comes out later with the bad guys being the ones who ended up on the wrong side at the end of things.

If the revolutionaries lose, they will be recorded as being the renegades who to tried to usurp the lawful and official government. If the revolutionaries happen to win and take over the country, the former government will be painted as corrupt and oppressive.

In those cases the ‘truth' is told by who ever raises the final flag over the capitol building.

If you want to really dig into what the ‘truth' is, try putting four devout followers of four different religious sects into a room and toss out a question about religious theology. Ask those four people what the truth is about a particular belief and why their version is the correct one.

I've been part of that discussion in various forms. Your chances of convincing one devout follower his version of the truth is wrong, are extremely slim, to more likely, none.

People believe what they want to believe.

We've all heard about the flat earthers, the holocaust deniers, and the lunar landing hoax guys.

There are people out there that believe the earth really is flat. They have flat earth models, airline flight plans, and antarctic mystery places that ‘prove' we are all being lied to about the earth being a globe.

The one question they can't answer is, what would scientists gain by lying and telling us the world is round?

It seems that in the world of politics, we have become more partisan than ever. More people align themselves to one side in a left verses right world. Not everyone thinks that way of course, but from what is reported in the media, there are very few people who take a centrist approach to their political thoughts.

Maybe the entire situation is indeed skewed by the mainstream media and there are more open minded people in the world than we know about.

Of course there are hard core people and extremists on both sides of the political spectrum who are absolutely certain their ‘truth' is in the only correct one.

It seems that people who hold extremists views are rather angry. I would guess they don't find a lot of joy in life.

Being open minded and taking other political positions into consideration can only enhance your knowledge of the entire political system. It may not change your mind on an issue, but it may make you a little more understanding of other people, and in that, there is no harm.

There are very few truths in life that are defined by absolutes.

If the truth can set you free, the more you know, the better off you will be.