Solid, Part One

Truth always carries with it an “about.” And, we live in an “about” culture. There are experts who can tell us the truth “about”: clothes; shoes; watches; organic gardening; climate change; mufflers; fair trade coffee beans; birds; astronomy; journalism; the Rolling Stones; the Buddha; video-gaming; sunscreen; almonds; tidal waves; Mars; the Second Coming of Christ; marriage; fine wines; education, and Jessica Alba; – you name it. In the past few years, nearly any question that I have had in regard to a car repair, how to record my old vinyl records to CD, or, “What is the difference between an age-spot and melanoma?” have been answered with a few clicks of my mouse and a search of the internet.

Truth “about” subjects and objects necessarily grows exponentially, concentrically and tangentially. That is a rather complicated way of saying: the more you know, the less you know. When we accept that as a premise – and I will show you why we should - then it also follows that: the less we know because of knowing more, the more there is to know. Confused? Let me give you a simple analogy from the ancient philosophers.

Once there was a farmer who had a son. The farmer never once ventured beyond a two mile circle of his farm. Within the confines of this circle, he knew every tree, every bush, every rise and every fall of the land. As his son grew, his father passed this knowledge about “everything” on to his son. One day, the son decided to see what, if anything lay beyond the circle. As he tenuously ventured out he expanded his knowledge another 2 miles. Over his lifetime, he became an expert in regard to this four mile circle. But, he also had a son who ventured out…

This analogy demonstrates the humbling nature of the pursuit of “about”. The more we discover about the universe, whether it is through a microscope or a telescope, in a spaceship or a submarine – the more we realize that our newfound knowledge has simply placed us at the very foot of a newly unscaled mountain - and the mountains never end, nor do the inside of those mountains, nor what lies beneath them, ad. inf. According to scientists, the corpus of human knowledge doubles every 18 months. That means, by the time you finish reading this blog, you will be measurably more ignorant than when you began – as will I after having written it.

One of two things can happen to a culture that is living during a time of exponential “about” increase. We can become more humble, or, we can become enamored of our own little circle of knowledge and grow increasingly narrow and arrogant. In previous cultures, the philosophers and the prophets were honored - at least posthumously - for the very fact that they kept us humble, or at least attempted to do so with stories about farmers and circles and such. But we do not live in a time where prophets and philosophers capture either the heart, the imagination or the affection of popular culture. Things are moving too fast to slow down and consider that which we do not know. We are a culture of drive-by intellectuals.

This cultural arrogance has the unpleasant effect of creating many experts in all things trivial. To know all of the truth “about”, say… the Stick’em notepad on my desk (vis. - who invented them, how many are produced each year, the various colors in which they come) is fascinating and helpful only to a person suffering from Savant Syndrome. (Savant Syndrome, sometimes abbreviated as Savantism, is defined as a rare condition in which persons with developmental disorders - including autism spectrum disorders - have one or more areas of expertise, ability or brilliance that are in contrast with the individual's overall limitations. -Wiki) I have met both expert educators and expert drug dealers who could only seem to speak about their respective areas of expertise. Each knew the truth of their craft. Each appeared to me one dimensional in her or his own way. While one contributed to society and one fractured society – from a philosophical standpoint – both were impoverished. Their lives were defined by a mere speck of the earthbound.

I apologize for all of the heavy wading thus far, but it is important that we lay a foundation for what is ahead. One of the problems we can run into with all of this truth specialization is the “non-metaphysical” nature of it all. The main point I wish to drive home is that each of us runs the risk of defining our reality, our reason for existence, and our sense of identity, by our mastery of a tiny slice of truth. It bespeaks a culture that may have lost its imaginative stamina to search for ultimate meaning in regard to the classic philosophical question: “What is truth?” Even that question carries with it an “about.” The question actually implies: “What is the truth about truth?”

So, what of the person who sets out to find the truth about the truth? That is another matter entirely because the search itself suggests the possibility of an end reality - a solid, or form - to use the language of philosophy. However, the hope of grasping a solid begins with a metaphysical leap into the unknown. Anyone who sincerely and honestly – and most importantly, humbly – asks the question: “What is truth?” senses implicitly the metaphysical, “beyond-ness” of the question. Somehow we know that the answer will not be found merely in things we touch, taste and see. At best, these things are shadows or suggestions of the ultimate.

To find the truth about truth - which everyone from scientists to theologians seek - will be the substance and the pursuit of where we are going in this series. It is a question that brings us to the very point of ultimate concern, humility, and from the Christian faith – a unique solid. Much more to come…

Be well blessed…
-CJ