TRUTH, AND ASSORTED RED HERRINGS
In the world of today, as in the world of every yesterday,
confusion is rampant. It is not surprising that there is so
little understanding of the concept of TRUTH. Simply, TRUTH is
the idea that there exists such a thing as Absolutes. The prob-
lem this concept presents for the average human being is twofold.
First, there appear to be no Absolutes in nature or physics.
Second, since each individual human being considers himself to be
extremely intelligent, but is unable to conceive of Absolutes, he
concludes that they do not exist. This is a classic example of
erroneous logic based on a false premise.
People who have been set up as authorities complicate mat-
ters by posing theories which do not actually answer the ques-
tion. (For if they did answer the questions, they would be
"laws" instead of "theories.") Many who do not understand these
theories, but do not wish to appear unintelligent, pretend to
understand them, and repeat the words and phrases which they have
been taught. So, while they do not understand what they are
saying, the repeaters of theories will argue for eternity that
there can be no Absolute because "everything is relative,"
because what is "true" for them might not be "true" for you, or
whatever happens to be fashionable to say.
Beliefs are conceptions. Sensory data are perceptions.
What they both have in common is thinking. Concepts, or beliefs,
which do not agree with reality are unTRUTH. Perceptions are
reality, relative to the perceiver, as the color-blind motorist
will quickly discover upon running red lights, regardless of what
color he chooses to call them. Frequently concepts tend to color
perceptions; however, if the concepts are unTRUTH, it follows
that the perceptions which are colored by them are also unTRUTH.
Suppose it is your belief that it is your "right," or that
it is not wrong, for you to enjoy a great deal of pleasure and
comfort. Suppose it is pointed out to you that your pursuit of
comfort and pleasure is causing others to starve to death. You
may not logically maintain that what is TRUE for them might not
be "true" for you. Because the TRUTH is that people are starving
to death as a direct result of your pursuit of pleasure. And it
is an Absolute TRUTH that no one likes to starve to death. To
cite as a contradictory example one who has starved himself for a
politial or religious belief does not nullify this statement,
because such a person did not perform this action because of a
wish to die, but in a desire to better life.
Reality, in which we are all fated to search for TRUTH, is
purely a matter of the perception of the senses and the percep-
tions of the mind. It is self-evident that the senses are rela-
tive. One sees better than another, while the other hears better
than the first. However, it cannot be argued that because one
can see a mad elephant at twice the distance of another that the
farsightedness of the one somehow changes the Absolute nature of
the elephant. When the elephant draws close enough, both will
see Absolutely the same elephant.
Perhaps a color-blind observer will see a pink elephant,
while a normal observer will see a grey elephant. Is there an
elephantologist who will insist that this discrepancy is due to a
pigmentation change common to elephants, rather than a difference
in the perception of the observers? Should the observers be
"philosophically" minded, and wish to dispute whether the
elephant is "truly" grey or pink, perhaps they would be well
advised to recall that the Absolute nature of mad elephants is to
charge anything which attracts their attention ... regardless of
color.