The Nature of Truth

I've been pondering truth lately. Not in the 'truth is relative' way, but how does one arrive at the truth? Part of this was puzzled over in a religious context, but I think it applies regardless. It seems the only way to come to the full realization of the truth of any given situation or conflict comes from viewing all sides. Otherwise, you are only seeing a fraction of the truth. The reality is the truth is often very complicated. Many things are not black and white. There are shades of gray in many situations.

It always annoys me that people fail to see the other side of things. It all boils down to a refusal to empathize and oftentimes to people's avoidance of conflict. And yet conflict can help bring the truth to light. When it comes to differing doctrinal views within a single religion, it can be a way of teasing out the truth of the issue being debated. However, it seems all too often they choose to break away and condemn the others' views instead of trying to truly understand one another. The same could be said for so many day-to-day conflicts: we so often are so utterly entrenched in our views that we fail to listen to what the other person has to say. Honestly, maybe they have something to say that never occurred to you and might better inform your own views, even if you disagree with the other person.

To take a bit of a tangent, I sincerely believe the truth is its purest form is a radical thing... and also something a great many people avoid. Michael Yaconelli has a fantastic quote in his book Messy Spirituality:

Unfortunately, people can handle the most difficult issues more easily than they can handle the lack of pretending. When you and I stop pretending, we expose the pretending of everyone else.

As a non-pretender, I've found that this is entirely true. People like to be selective with the truth and believe that politically correct and 'not rocking the boat' is the best option. But people--if they are willing to hear it--really appreciate honest truth. It doesn't have to mean you have no tact (as I've been accused of in the past), it means not stroking someone's ego purely out of avoidance of conflict and, if your 'honesty' does not come from a vengeful place, then it will be in the other person's best interests and will help them grow. We all have a blind spot to ourselves. But I digress....