The Thing About Truth…

They say that only truth can set you free, but they never tell you anything about the ‘truth’.

They tell you to be honest and never lie, but they never really define it.

So, what is truth? More importantly, how do we decide if a thing is true or not? Is ‘truth’ a set of commonly accepted facts? Or is it merely a belief?

How do we decide the finality of anything? And why do we depend on the absolution at all?

Is it because we love our comfort zones? Or is it because the inertia is too great to contest?

History has witnessed many great beliefs being challenged and getting replaced by new beliefs. Time has given us sufficient evidence to show that nothing is absolute.

There was a time when Earth was in the center of the universe and there is a time when we are peeping through the windows of the universe to see if we have a neighbor.

Point being, truth can be challenged in light of facts that state otherwise.

Yet another perspective that can question the absolution of truth is relativity.

Every fact, every belief, every bit of information is relative. What is right for one person can be outrageous for another. What is interesting for one can be shady for another.

To quote an example, when its broad daylight in the US, its midnight in Indonesia. Does it mean that either one of the two are false? No. It simply means that both are right, both are ‘true’ with respect to another sun but not to each other.

Common knowledge or wide acceptance elevates the status of any information from ‘fact’ to ‘truth’. But does it mean that the majority is necessarily right? Not always.

The thing about ‘truth’ is that it can be challenged and changed. So, to believe in its absolution and stop looking beyond what is already known, is not just ludicrous but also insipid.

So stop resisting and start looking for it’s never too late to explore!