An honest seeker of truth

Be an honest seeker of truth.

Seeking truth in today's world is no easy task. It seems people claim either to know everything or to know nothing; that truth is absolute and they've got it all; or else it is entirely relative, and dependent on perspective.

As a general rule, I'm not a fan of extremes. I reject that any human is in possession of perfect knowledge. Anyone who is absolutely certain they are right is almost certainly wrong. I also disbelieve those who say that it is impossible to know what's right or what's wrong – or worse yet, those who claim that right and wrong are purely a matter of perspective and personal choice.

As uncomfortable as it may sound, it is simultaneously possible to know the truth, and impossible to know all of it. It is impossible to know everything, but we can and must know something. Indeed, it is imperative that we seek to know the truth – but always in the humility. We must be honest seekers of truth, who recognize that we know very little for certain, and what we do know is incomplete.

An honest seeker of truth approaches every situation with two realizations in mind:

1. No one is completely right
2. No one is completely wrong

There are a number of very important implications that come from this. First, no one has a monopoly on truth. No one “has it all.” And, by further implication, everyone has something more to learn. Second, because no one is completely and utterly wrong, there is truth to be found everywhere. Being able to see it is not always easy, though. It often requires wisdom, humility, and a calm mind and heart capable of seeing things clearly and dispassionately.

But really, I mean it: truth can be found everywhere. And honest seekers of truth will never rule someone out simply because they don't see eye to eye.

I love the analogy of the blind men and the elephant. According to the parable, one blind man takes hold of the creature's tail and claims that what he has found is a rope. Another grasps its trunk and insists that he has encountered a snake. A third feels the elephant's leg and is certain he is holding a tree trunk, and so on. Each makes a truth claim based on his experience, and each is wrong. None of them recognize they are really dealing with an elephant.

How did they all end up getting it wrong? Each, because he is blind, has a limited encounter with the elephant. This is inevitable – the elephant is simply too large. The blind men are therefore not to be faulted for their limited experience. They are to be faulted for making incorrect extrapolations based on that limited experience. None of them, it seems, bothered to pause and consider that maybe there was more to this than his experience would suggest. Maybe his evidence and experience were incomplete, and if only he knew the whole story his truth claims might need revising.

That none of them made this realization is truly shocking, if you ask me. I mean, let's be honest here: anyone who honestly thinks the evidence supporting his position is completely bulletproof is a fool. Anyone who thinks their experience is comprehensive is an idiot. And anyone who thinks they know everything is probably beyond all help.

The reason each blind man was so convinced of his incorrect assertions is, I think, because each came to a conclusion based on personal experience, the kind that is truly unimpeachable. We think that, because we have experienced something personally, we really know, while others do not. And it's true, experience is probably the most powerful source of learning. But because the things we learn by personal experience are emotionally charged, we risk being blinded by our own experiences. We are always at risk, like the blind men, of making the dangerous assumption that we know more than we really do. We tend to make claims that are broader than our limited experience gives us license to.

When seeking truth, I always keep this parable in mind. I try and frequently remind myself that the situation is bigger than I realize; that there are legitimate positions and perspectives that I haven't considered; that there are facts that I don't know; and that, the more I learn, the more my truth claims are going to need revising. If I were one of those blind men, I wouldn't have known any better than the others what it was we were exploring. But I would at least have been much less surprised to find out it was an elephant, and would have been more cautious in making claims about the truth.

An honest truth seeker approaches everything with a healthy degree of skepticism, but at the same time is excited to learn from everything. With this moderate, pragmatic approach, we can continue to grow in understanding and benefit from a continually expanding circle of truth. At the same time, we won't be easily duped; and when wrong, we won't stubbornly hold onto our errors because, to be honest, discovering that we were wrong won't be surprising.

Absolute truth does exist. And it is knowable. But discovering it isn't as obvious – or as impossible – as some make it out to be. The world could certainly benefit from a few more honest seekers of truth.