Truth.
Scientists
search for it, yet, we hear that statistics can be skewed, tests can be manipulated, and the new, the unusual
sometimes so threatens the establishment that their innovative ideas are blown away like so much chalk from the blackboard.
Lawyers and
truth? The goal is to win, and whose “truth” can they trust anyway? Reasonable
doubt is often the best we can hope for.
Truth, the word, gets thrown around like
broadcasting lawn seeds.
The earth is
the center of the solar system. Nope.
Some people
believe “The Bible, said it, I believe it, that settles it,” without
understanding that long ago Monks painstakingly hand copied the Bible. Most Biblical
scholars agree that there are “glosses,” that is marginal notes make by the
copiers, became incorporated into the text by future copiers.
Around the
year 300 many religions were tossed about, many canons for the Bible existed, so
old Roman Emperor Constantine said, “Enough already. These are the books for
the Bible, and Christianity is the religion of the state.” And then years later
someone unearthed a few old scrolls buried in the Dead Sea region that created cause for pause.
“What I said is not what your heard, and what
I meant to say is not what came out of my mouth, and you weren’t listening
anyway.”
Being clear
is like hitting a bull’s eye.
Journalists
endeavor to uncover the truth, but then the pundits, the naysayers, the
opposition, attack their copy. Controversy ensues, and the truth gets lost
under tons of oratory. So much doubt is cast upon their findings that soon the
populist doesn’t remember what the initial question was.
I suppose we
can count on gravity—we believe that to be a “truth” we’re pretty sure it
exists, but then we went into space and had to be tied to our seats lest we
float to the ceiling, or worse.
“Seeing is
believing.” Optical illusionists made us go out and buy new glasses.
Some people
think their idea of God is the truth, other people think theirs is. For some their God is Love, others say that
God directed them to terrorize their fellow human beings.
“Sell the sizzle and not the steak,” so say
the advertisers. Tell a good story and people will buy your product. Amp it up,
glorify it, make it shine.
And then
what happened? Along came philosophers,
and writers such as Wayne Dyer who said “You’ll see it When You Believe It.”
They ushered in the idea that perhaps we create according to our beliefs.
A few years
ago I was involved with a woman’s group who often read esoteric material. After
a week apart we would come together completely befuddled. What to
believe? What was the truth? A conclusion
grew out of our conversations. We had to trust out own inner guidance system.
Did it “Ring true?” Did it resonate with our thought systems?
We were left
trusting our feelings.
I saw the
movie Truth last night with Robert
Redford and Kate Blanchett, about Mary Mapes, the Producer of CBS, and Dan
Rather the year he left the network. I think it ought to be mandatory showing
in high schools, and for everyone else, and it lit a fire under me.
P.S. Still adding chapters from One Year on the Island to oneyearontheisland.com