What Is TRUTH?
"Some peoples' minds are so open that their brains have fallen out." (Rick Warren)
There is much confusion, deceipt, propaganda and division today. In a world where you are told to be 'open-minded' or 'tolerant', the lack of diversity is often encouraged. The most outlandish and harmful info, 'pop science' and ideas are often accepted without question. Emotions or feelings, which all of us have, can be very unreliable. The internet and social media are full of info, both good and bad.
As a coping strategy, many people have 'un-plugged' and no longer trust or believe anyone or anything - or - they simply surrender to popular culture or media messages, rather than their common sense or discernment. They come to believe (wrongly) that TRUTH does not exist. As a result, they become powerless, fearful and easily manipulated.
**So, you must have a reliable 'test' or filter mechanism to help you determine the difference between what is TRUE and NOT TRUE.** Nothing can be both TRUE and NOT TRUE at the same time.
So, what is TRUTH?
HERE is a simple test that you can use to discern the TRUTH. By definition, TRUTH is true for all people, in all places, at all times.
For example, here are three undeniable, discernible, universal statements of TRUTH: 1) 2+2=4; 2) the Earth circles the Sun; and 3) Darkness is the absence of light.
Please understand that I am not trying to over-simplify anything complicated, nor tell you WHAT is true. This is not an effort to persuade you for or against any particular political affiliation, person or perspective. I am simply trying to help you to intelligently and rationally decide for yourself what is TRUE.
By the way, it is OK for you to remain neutral, to not take a position for or against something.
It is also perfectly acceptable to take as much time as you want or need to determine what you trust or believe.
You can refuse to surrender to pressure, persecution, compulsion or anything that seems false or misleading.
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In fact, those who promote mis-information will often push you to decide quickly without sufficient info. Think of a bad, high-pressure used car salesman...
I like an old farmer's saying, which goes: "There are two things money can't buy; true love and home-grown tomatoes." You can buy some really good tomatoes these days, but I would add a third thing that money can't buy: the TRUTH.
Every person (including YOU) has a mind, and the God-given right and freedom to use it in order to discern what is TRUE. I sincerely hope you will do that, for your own good.
You can mock, ignore or criticize this advice - but I wouldn't. As always, this advice comes with a 'No Problem Guarantee." If you don't like or agree with it, 'no problem'...
Russ Minary specialized in helping businesses with hiring, talent consulting and organizational effectiveness before retiring.?Visit his website at OnPurpose Enterprises for more information.
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1 年"What is truth?" is a famous philosophical question that received no answer. But the person who asked it was told that there are people "of the truth" who listened to the voice of the One who testified to the truth. For me, it suggests that TRUTH cannot be articulated in human terms but can be sensed. Most people seem to equate truth with what is objectively real or factual. But as Einstein demonstrated, what is real or factual in one context is relative when expressed in a different context. Take light and dark for example. We can, in the context of the perceived visible domain describe darkness as the absence of light. But, is that always true in every context? Just in the realm of personal experience, for one who cannot see physical light, it is always dark even in light's presence. Or consider that there were scientists who for years said that light functioned as a particle and others said it functioned as a wave. Both thought it was true. It turns out they were both right and both wrong depending on conditions. Going further, does this mean that the absence of light that we are referring to as darkness, is also the absence of particles and/or waves depending on the conditions? Or is darkness essentially void of substance?
If you remember the book, or the movie, "Inherit the Wind", Henry Drummond says, "Realizing that I may prejudice the case of my client, I must say that "Right" has no meaning to me whatsoever! Truth?has a meaning—as a direction. But one of the peculiar imbecilities of our time is the grid of morality we have placed on human behavior: so that every act of man must be measured against an arbitrary latitude of right and longitude of wrong—in exact minutes, seconds, and degrees!" Truth is "the actual state of things." Truth must objectively reflect the reality that exists independently of the person's consciousness.?Explanatory dictionary defines it as: ?“the opposite to lies; all that is true, exactly, just; all that is truth. Now the word is equivalent to correctness, although it will be more accurate to understand by the word “correctness” truthfulness, justice, judgment, and rightness. Truth refers [more] to mind and reason, but good or goodness refer to love, disposition and will” Since all the main aspects of truth are reflected in the normative acts - ontological, axiological and praxeological - the need to establish objective truth becomes paramount, especially as a universal principle. Because it creates the basis for the entire legal system, and our social structure. If we live in a society devoid of objective truth, breeds corruption, in which case we're doomed to fail.