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Dec. 7, 2004 Have you noticed how many places we can go to find the Truth? People go out of their way on a daily basis to find the Truth. During a normal shopping day we may, depending on our enthusiasm and endurance, find the Truth ten to twenty times. Children going to school find Truth in the classroom. They also find Truth going to and from the local school. Men and women go about their daily lives. Each experience of the day, each task performed at work, the newspapers, periodicals, books, and advertisements they read give them Truth. At home we discuss the day’s events, we watch television, some of us listen to radio and we absorb Truth. Here on Useless-Knowledge we read the articles of our fellow contributors. Each article gives us Truth. All of us sit at our keyboards and tell the Truth. We do it for any number of reasons. Because I have not yet developed the ability to read minds I will only relate my reasons for telling the Truth. The major reason I write my Truth is the hope others will take the time to read it. The motivation behind the labor is pomposity. I want everyone to know what a deep thinker I am. I want everyone to see the incredible common sense I use in imparting Truth. I feel people reading my Truth will be enlightened and perhaps gain new insight. In so doing, this will in turn feed my pomposity and give me the allusion of accomplishment. This then is the Major Reason I put my Truth before you. I have other motives for writing these articles. Another raison d'être is enjoyment. I enjoy using English, and sometimes other, Languages. I love putting together this word with that phrase, and hopefully, making words flow and sing. Making them enjoyable for others to read. I am terrible at the rules of grammar. That, dear reader, is my greatest failing. In my fiction writing, I work with a professional editor, one whose name is known. Mike edits best-selling authors and tutors hacks like me. He is constantly after me to clean up my act and I try, I really do, that’s the Truth. But another part of that Truth is my brain. It refuses to take the time to understand all the contradictory rules of grammar. Lastly, I write for the purpose of giving my life some intellectual meaning. Not in the sense of academia. But in the sense of a man who educated himself because he wanted to learn the Truth about Truth. “Ah,” someone once proclaimed, “there’s the rub.” The Truth about Truth. If you’ve got a minute let’s take a look at the Truth about Truth. Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition defines Truth as: 1. the true and actual state of the matter. 2. conformity with fact, or reality; verity: (the truth of a statement.) 3. a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principal, or the like: (mathematical truths.) 4. the state or character of being true. 5. actuality or actual existence. I won’t bore you with the rest of the definitions. They simply say the same thing with different words. In my opinion number five is the most important and meaningful of all the definitions. If you can touch, smell, taste, feel, measure and weigh something, chances are good you have an object with physical properties. If you or I make that statement most would assume we have told the Truth. “Ah,” someone once proclaimed again, “there’s the rub.” What about things without physical properties? What about law? Is that Truth? What about the words written down in the Bible? Is that Truth? What about a Money Saving Sale at Sears? Is that the Truth? How about Jesus Christ, The Son of God? Is that Truth? How about Adolph Hitler the madman? Is that Truth? How about my grandma Bertha made the best oatmeal cookies in the world? Is that Truth? My point, of course, is Truth is used loosely in our society. If you listen close you’ll find everyone, from your little two-year-old with the crayon all over his/her face and pretty pictures on the wall, to the minister in the pulpit on Sunday are telling you the Truth. (You have just been subjected to one of my famous “run-on sentences.” That’s the Truth) Too easily we all claim, with a straight face, to tell the Truth, to live the Truth, to study the Truth, to subscribe to the Truth, to render the Truth and to defend the Truth. I don’t BELIEVE, and I emphasize the word, BELIEVE, we really know what Truth is after all. Allow me to tell you what I THINK, and therefore BELIEVE, Truth to be. Is there a drum roll in the house? Fanfare? Okay, what the hell. “(Observation + Perception) x Opinion = Truth.” To understand each other better. To give our pronouncements more weight. To be true to our BELIEF system. To allow others the freedom to be true to their BELIEF system, I BELIEVE the above formula applies in determining Truth. We live in an environment surrounded by phenomena. The phenomena are not all physical and not all intangible. Our senses are gifts that can be used to keep us from danger and harm. Our brain has senses, but none of us choose to use them all of the time. If we allow our brain senses to work, we will OBSERVE each piece of new phenomena. After our OBSERVATION of same we will form a PERCEPTION of the phenomena. Once the OBSERVATION and PERCEPTION of the phenomena take place we will do what all humans tend to do, MULTIPLY our findings by OPINION. OPINION as we all know, boys and girls, is formed by every piece of phenomena we have OBSERVERED and PERCEIVED in the past. This then is where Truth takes a dive. Our OPINIONS are always tainted by the prejudice of past OBSERVATION AND PERCEPTION. The Truth about Truth? I’ve come to the conclusion there is no Truth. Only PERSONAL TRUTH. Far be it from me to put words in the mouth of God, but if I could hear his voice, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear him say something like: I have given you truth. You have made it human. That’s my opinion. It’s the only one I’m qualified to give. ------------ About the author James B. Bergstad: I've explored this planet for sixty-six years. For the most part it's been a blast. I now indulge my passions of reading, writing and painting. My novel "Hyde's Corner" is awaiting publication. It is a taut period/drama set in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Sheriff Selmer Burks presides over the destruction of three families and the corruption of Hyde's Corner. Email: captflash@astound.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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