SACRIFICE!

Why do we sit waiting in the silence of our minds, hoping, praying, wishing that someone will see us for what we are? Is it a weakness embedded in us that keeps us weighted down or is it a the nature of our relationships with a world that doesn't stop to take a second to think or ask about another. A world of self centered beings always concerned with only one thing, themselves. Yet for some reason we wait on those we love, for those close to us, in the hopes that they may at some point look beyond themselves and notice what we are. Perhaps if the world could stop living for themselves and start living for others then we could see a drastic change. There are 6 billion people in the world but not one powerful enough to change it. The nature of the beast remains the same, the only advancement being it's technology. 6 billion is indeed a large number. If only 1% of us could change the way we think that would be larger than a small country like Canada. However change requires sacrifice. What percent of 6 billion is WILLING to do that?

WHY ARE SOME SO CERTAIN OF THEMSELVES, BUT WISER PEOPLE ARE FULL OF DOUBTS?

This is indeed an interesting question. We see it all the time around the people that we associate with. We see those people who fly through life seemingly without question or worry. We also see those who question everything, curios about things that they don't understand. But which one of the two actually knows the truth. Do the ones who fly through life know something that the others don't? Or do they believe that worrying about things that they don't understand is a waste of time. They rather pretend that they know everything there is to know and save themselves the torment. Some people believe that they should just enjoy life and leave the complicated questions to be answered by fate, or God. Others believe that to answer these questions makes this life worthwhile.

One has to ask, if the pursuit of truth is a waste of time, an idea that cannot be achieved, or that the truth is real and can be found by us in this life. There are only two ways to look at this. One that it is possible to know the truth and that would make the pursuit worthwhile for the wise people of the world. Secondly truth is abstract, left to interpretation and cannot stand for any one concept or thing. Therefore it is useless to worry about truth and one should live their lives free of such thought and do as they wish.

If I were to conclude the latter of the two then I would be looking over my shoulder every second of the day. It is because the wiser of the two sets of people have chosen to pursue the truth we have things in our society to keep us safe and sound and be able to distinguish between right and wrong. The pursuit of truth is very real and therefore possible to know. It is there in the experience of "NOW". Right now, at this very moment you are experiencing truth. The problem occurs when we try and put truth into words and distort its meaning. Truly knowing the truth precludes talking about it using language. However if you must talk about it "truthfully" then at least know that when you talk it through, it will be distorted. As for answering the question of why some are so certain of themselves, while the wiser people doubt, the answer is simple.

To be wise you have to acknowledge that there is always something to learn.
To be wise you have to see all possibilities while accepting the fact that there maybe more.
The absolutely convinced individual can only see one way, his or her own way.

Truth Observed

Here is a short poetic verse wirtten by the Green Scarvenger on truth observed.

Truth--- universally recognized as the one source of acknowledgement, that is among humans. Do other life forms conceive truth, trees, animals, fish etc.? Perhaps they are truth to us. The truth is, no human alive will ever know what happens after death. So did the creator ensure that we not know? Is it that we humans are not perfect until death, or by design, to prove to "Satan" that humans can be truthful, even while alive.

Inpirational Sayings To Make Your Day!

BE ALL YOU CAN BE. BE MORE TODAY, THAN YOU WERE YESTERDAY.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE GREAT AND YOU WILL BE SURROUNDED BY GREATNESS.

YOU ARE MORE THAN THOUGHTS, WORDS AND DEEDS. YOU ARE LOVE IN THE FACE OF HATE, YOU ARE STRENGTH IN THE FACE OF WEAKNESS, YOU ARE TRUTH IN THE FACE OF LIES....YOU ARE THE DIFFERENCE THAT GIVES THE WORLD A FACE!

THOUGHT

There is the idea,
Here it comes,
Over and over it repeats,
Understanding the concept,
Giving in to reason,
Having to believe,
That my idea is real.

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
-Walt Emerson

Why Do We Teach Our Children Not To Lie? (Part 2)

Half of us don't have faith in our politicians and we don't vote. Our leaders lie to us daily in order to attain support, be it in the form of votes, taxes, or just pure sweat and blood. If the lies start from the top of the food chain so to speak, by the time they get to our children it's not even a lie but rather a complete deception. It's almost like we live in a fake world engineered to use us and suck us dry, all the while hiding the truth. No wonder the movie Matrix did so well? Now sure we are not in some test tubes with hoses in our back but the idea is similar. Those of us who don't have power and control have to follow by rules that we may or may not agree with. There's an interesting line from the movie Frost/Nixon that explains this clearly. The president tells Frost clearly without hesitation that "when the president does it, it's not a lie". Now those may not be the exact words from the movie but it's pretty close. Now how many presidents have come and gone with the same philosophy in mind? Who do we tell our children to look up to? If our politicians who are the people who represent us can tell a lie, why can't they?

Now day’s we rely on science and technology to take care of us, make us healthy and live longer, better lives. Believe it or not, science is not always perfect either. It is however open to interpretation. This means that if you believe it works, it works. Ever heard of the placebo effect? If science is so perfect then why does it need to test for the placebo effect in every experiment when it comes to human beings? Probably because most medications and supplements we find on the market today do absolutely nothing. If anything it's the idea of the supplement that works. For example we have normal Tylenol, and extra strength Tylenol. Why would anyone need normal Tylenol when there was a better and faster extra strength Tylenol on the market. How many people go to the pharmacy shelf and say my head ache does not warrant extra strength pain relief today so I’ll take my chances with the normal Tylenol? The supplement industry is a multi-billion dollar market today. How many of us waste hundreds of dollars everyday in the hopes that a magic pill packed in an attractive container can make us skinny, increase our strength or even just make us feel better? What do we tell our children when they try these products and find that they don’t really work and that the company lied to them? How about those celebrities that have huge endorsement deals? Do they even use the products they endorse? I recently saw a video on steroid use in America. The producer of the video was interviewing a spokes model for a fat burner called Hydroxycut. I'm not going to name any names but the spokes model was a popular figure in the bodybuilding world. When the producer asked him how he felt about misrepresenting the product to consumers, he simply replied that it was a double edged sword, and that the consumer should know better. Basically what he was trying to say is that the product he is promoting for millions of dollars doesn't actually make him look the way he does. However he did admit that the steroids he took did do wonders for his physique. How many of our children grow up wanting to become just like these individuals. Well they eventually learn that their heroes became heroes, by lying.

So why do we insist on teaching our children not to lie? Why teach them morals that don't really apply in the real world? Furthermore why do we teach them something that we ourselves cannot do? I think that the idea of always telling the truth is appealing to us. It is however an idea that cannot come about in a world where the foundations of our society are built from lies. I think that the trick to deciphering a lie from the truth now a days is extremely hard. There is a saying that goes something like, "oh what a vicious web we weave, when we first choose to deceive." Ever heard a saying like that? Well it's true. When the first lie was told and the first lie was believed, we started this web of deceit. I think we are all trapped in this web like flies in a web of a spider. That is how human beings function, they are a product of their upbringing mostly. We learn from a young age that sex is dirty, that Santa Claus is real, that good people don't use foul language, that our sports heroes are so great because of their hard work, training and discipline, that God will punish you if you do anything wrong, that you can become anything you want if you just work hard and be a good person. How many of those statements hold any truth when you become an adult?

The main reason we tell our children to tell the truth is because we are pure idealists! Everything we do is based on an ideal, never reality. Maybe that's why even though human beings have the smartest brains among all species on the planet earth, we are still so confused. Everyone knows everything, but nobody knows anything.

Why Do We Teach Our Children Not To Lie? (Part 1)

I find it extremely peculiar that adults are constantly teaching children not to lie. Everywhere I go I find people trying to convince little children that telling the truth is always the right thing to do. For instance I was shopping in a grocery store the other day (where I actually thought of writing about this topic) and I noticed a rambunctious kid running around the pop and chips isle. His mother while busy doing her shopping seems to be oblivious to the fact that he keeps grabbing things off the shelf. At one point he just dropped a bag of chips and accidentally stepped on it. While I found all this a little amusing, I was thinking to myself, this mom really needs to discipline her kid. After about two minutes of making a huge mess in the isle she finally turns around only to be shocked by the crushed bags of chips spread out upon the floor. With a stern face she approaches her son and asks him, "did you make this mess?"

At this point I'm thinking oh, oh kid you got yourself into a big mess (no pun intended).

What was really funny though was the fact that he started to nod his head and said he didn't do it. Her immediate response was, "don't you lie to me." After which she sternly reminded him what happens to liars. Needless to say he finally cracked and the tears began to flow. It's funny how we teach children not to lie in their everyday situations, yet we lie for several things on a daily basis in our adult lives. We lie to others mostly, but on occasion we even lie to ourselves.

Ever since childhood we are taught to be truthful, never to lie, or do anything dishonest. Our parents instill these values in us as children, while at the same time living in a world where lies are the cornerstone for success. We lie for power, we lie for money, we lie for friendship, we lie to escape reality, and we constantly lie to avoid the truth because the truth is too hard to bear. Why then do we insist on teaching our children to always tell the truth? It seems to me we should be teaching them how to be better liars to survive in this world. No longer are the days where qualities like honesty, integrity and kindness will get you very far in life. In fact I can only count on one hand the number of people whom I would consider successful bearing those qualities. One hand! Come to think of it I don’t think there was a point in human history where these qualities got people very far. Yet we strive to teach our children to endeavor for those qualities.

I think we are a very contradictory species. Do as I say not as I do, right? Wrong! Children are a product of their upbringing. That means no matter how many times you tell them not to lie, they will end up lying multiple times in their lives. Some of them more than others and some will make it a cornerstone of their values once they get a taste of success as a result of it. After all we learn from a very young age within the foundation of our society like religion, law and yes, even science, on how to lie.

Even today in the age of science and technology religion is a daily part of peoples lives. People are so devout to their religion that they cannot imagine living a life without it. However are their religious views based on truth or a lie? For example in most religions we are taught not to lie, cheat, steal, harm or betray another. Yet daily normal people and even religious clergy are committing those same acts. The religious husband who cheats on his wife, the religious wife who steals from her husband, the religious school teacher who molests their student, the religious salesman who lies to his customer, the religious postal worker who guns down people who are innocent. These are all religious people but do not follow the basic principles of their respective religion. Besides the obvious, religion in and of itself is not perfect in it’s principles and practices. For example in the Buddhist tradition it is generally not accepted to take a life. That includes the life of animals and even insects. Yet there are followers of this tradition who take human life in certain parts of the world because their concept of Buddhism allows them to do so. Some might argue that these people are not practicing real Buddhism. Well tell that to your children. Explain to them why our religion teaches one thing but there are people who do things against the basic principles of our religion. Explain to them why we our selves are not following those principles in our daily lives. In Zoroastrianism one of the oldest religions to exist, there are three basic principles to follow. Good thoughts, good words, good deeds. Really simple and straight forward, right? Why then are non Zoroastrians not allowed to become practicing Zoroastrians. Are Good thoughts, good words and good deeds only doable by Zoroastrians. And what is so good about excluding others from the beauty of this religion. The idea of exclusion in and of itself is a bad thought is it not? To say, “you cannot become a Zoroastrian if you are not born into the religion”, are bad words, are they not? To physically exclude people from and not consider them Zoroastrian would be considered a bad deed, would it not? This is a clear contradiction of religious principles. Like this, all religions have contradictions in their principles. So how do we expect our children to tell the truth when they are lied to constantly by the principles of their religion?

How about the foundation upon which we base our peaceful society to prevent anarchy, our legal system? Why do we teach our children not to lie when we do it everyday within our legal system? Plaintiffs lie, defendants lie, lawyers lie and even judges and jurors lie. In fact the very principles of the legal system are to seek out the truth and enforce justice. However we all know that is not the case, as there are always loop holes in the law to give the liars an advantage. We create a justice system that really does not protect the innocent. Yet we tell our children to follow the rule of law. When they see the legal system failing them for the first time, whether in court or out on the streets they realize that the truth shall not set them free, but a lie might.

More on our politicians and our captains of industry in Part 2 of this segment......

Importance of Truth (Part 3)

OK so we've established that truth can only be exact if it is spoken in a neutral sentence within a neutral context. The words used have to correspond with the situation exactly and cannot mean anything else in any possible situation. A very difficult task indeed to accomplish. Perhaps that's why most of us don't have the patients or will to use proper words to describe what we are truly thinking. Haven't we all had ideas in our head clear as day, but when we go to verbally express those ideas they seem to come out broken or distorted. How many times do we realize this is happening and just ignore it hoping that the words we use are understood by the other person. Here is an example that happened to me. While at work the other day I asked one of my co-workers to clean up the garbage in the storage room. However in my mind what I wanted him to do was remove the garbage from the storage room and throw it out. He did exactly what I told him to do, he picked up all the garbage and placed it neatly in a pile in the storage room. Now one might say what kind of knob would clean up GARBAGE and put it back in the same place. Garbage should be thrown out, right? Well I guess I cannot blame him if the words I used did not express what I was thinking clearly. I should have told him to remove the garbage from the storage room and throw it out. Minor example of how we could learn to express what we think precisely.

So how important is the truth to us? From what I see on a daily basis in my life truth is irrelevant to the average individual. What I find of most importance to people is what they want to believe. Whether or not their belief is true does not matter. People always opt for the easiest option first before considering the consequences. For example you could be walking down the street eating a candy bar. Once the candy bar is finished you look for a place to throw away the wrapper and when you can't find a garbage can anywhere you decide to throw the wrapper on the ground. You figure it's biodegradable and besides what could one wrapper do to the environment? Probably nothing, and you would be right. However you didn't think about the fact that you are not the only one who is dropping that wrapper on the ground. Only one candy wrapper yes, but even if a quarter of the earth's population is doing that means approximately TWO BILLION candy wrappers. Come on we've all done it...admit it!

By the way for those of you who still haven't gone green and are wondering what you should do in a situation like that...well it's very simple....you carry the wrapper in your hand, pocket or purse until you find a garbage can and then throw it away. The truth of the matter is that the candy wrapper you leave on the ground will remain there until someone else picks it up and lets face it when was the last time any of us picked up someone else's garbage?

I'm not a hundred percent sure but I'm pretty sure that we all have learnt through the media and our personal networks and educational resources about the effects of pollution on the environment. Why then do I still see people throw garbage on the streets everywhere I go. You might argue that it's people who don't know any better who are still littering on the streets. The fact of the matter is even people I know, do this when it is convenient for them. So that proves that people will always do what is easier first before anything else. How important can the truth be to people? The truth is irrelevant, the necessity of the situation overrides any truth for most people. We no longer search for the truth in anything because the lie is much simpler to swallow. Why take the pain staking effort to think about what your actions can do when its much quicker and simpler to throw it to the world.

Look for my next piece on why we teach our children not to lie!

The Importance of Truth (Part 2)

So what is truth to us. Is it a set of words that simply make sense or an idea that is what it is. If truth was simply a set of words to form meaning then the statement "oranges are white" would be true. The words make sense and the statement if visualised properly can make it true in our mind. But is it really true? From what we know of oranges we can deduce that oranges are in fact orange in colour. Is it possible for an orange to be white? Yes it is possible in any given universe including ours that oranges are white in colour. However it is not currently the case (at least not that I know of) that oranges are white in colour.

The words we use are important in defining truth, as we all know how words can have several meanings in different contexts. So how do we pin point the truth? Well firstly the words have to make universal sense. What I mean by that is, the words we use cannot have multiple meanings. Is there such a set of words? Secondly the context of the situation has to correspond with the words. Here is an example I thought of just now: There are three men in a room. Their names are Ram, Joe, and Lee. Ram poses the question, "who is Lee?" to Joe. Joe answers the question, "Lee is Lee", to Ram. I think that would make the perfect indisputable truthful answer. "Lee is Lee" is universally true because Lee cannot be Joe or Ram or anybody else as there are only three people in the room. The answer "Lee is Lee" in this context would be universally true. The only way this answer cannot be true is if Lee is not Lee, but in this case the narrator of the situation (myself) clearly explains that there are only three people in the room, one of which is Lee. Now what if Joe answered in the traditional fashion and said, "this is Lee" while pointing in his direction. Could that in any circumstance be a false statement? Using the word "this" makes the description of the person very vague. However since I have stated that there are only three people in the room, it becomes clear that Joe is pointing to Lee when introducing him. If I threw in a fourth person into the room, lets call him Sam, the statement "this is Lee" would have some problems. Even though Joe might be pointing in Lee's direction one can argue that he was pointing at Sam assuming Sam was standing beside Lee. To avoid this confusion we change the sentence to "Lee is Lee", while pointing in Lee's direction. This way the statement is true in any context, with any number of people, whether or not Ram misunderstands who Lee is a different story. But by using the word "this" to describe Lee, you are left with multiple meanings in multiple contexts.


In reality of course we would not use such a statement to describe a person because it would be to tedious. Can you imagine being in a social situation and introducing a friend to another friend. "Hey Arch, who's Lee?" asks Sam. Arch answers, "Lee is Lee". Sam looks at Arch like he's loosing his mind.


What Sam really wants to know is the where abouts of this person named Lee, not who he is. Who he is would be a question for Lee himself. In the words of Billy Crystal from the movie Analyze This "who am I, that is the question". We tend to ask the wrong questions expecting the right answers. I believe if we are to find the truth then precision in words and in context must be executed.

The Importance of Truth (Part 1)

Hope you all enjoyed the poem I posted a couple of days ago. I would like to return to the topic of truth and its value to us as human beings. How important is TRUTH to us? Is it necessary in everyday life? Is there a lack of it in everyday life? Are we bound by the truth?

For human beings truth must be relative. Meaning if a proposition has meaning to an individual that proposition becomes true to that particular individual. A very simple example would be "my glass is half full" or "my glass is half empty". Either proposition can be relatively true depending on who you are and how you look at it. People say that if you are a half full person you are an optimist and if you are a half empty person you are pessimist. Is this true?

A person who looks at the glass being half full is said to look at life in a positive way and the opposite goes for the one who looks at the glass as half empty. This is a great example for motivational speakers to use when giving examples of positive and negative ways of thinking. However the question still remains, is it true? If I said that my glass is half empty, does it mean that it is half full. Of course it does. Logically if my glass holds 50% water then the other 50% would have to be air or something else. The only reason one would buy this example of positive thinking is if it were true or at least if one believed it were true. However in my opinion saying that the glass is half full or empty doesn't make a person positive or negative, if it does anything at all it simply makes a person think that they are thinking in a positive or negative manner. It seems to be a play on words and nothing more.



What if I changed the words of the proposition to "my glass holds some water in it," how would one feel about it then? This means that it is neither full, nor empty. It is exactly what I said it is. I wonder if this makes me an "opti-pesi-mist". My statement, "my glass holds some water in it," can be a positive or negative statement depending on how much water I want. It seems even a relative truth would need to be positively and negatively balanced to be considered as remotely true. Let me know what you think.

THE QUESTION

Here is a little poem I wrote when I was much younger. It relates to the topic of "truth" in this world. Enjoy!


THE QUESTION IS IN MY MIND,
THE ANSWER I CANNOT FIND.

SEEKING TRUTH BY THE QUESTION,
RETURNING ONLY WITH SPECULATION.

LIFE IS A CONTINUOUS EXPLORATION,
OF FACTS, FIGURES AND CONTEMPLATION.

LIKE THE RISE AND SET OF THE SUN EACH DAY,
LIFE HAS BECOME PREDICTABLE THAT WAY.

I AWAKEN EVERY MORNING TO LIVE FOR TOMORROW, NEVER TODAY.

LIVING, LEARNING AND LOVING YEAR AFTER YEAR,
IN THE GAME OF LIFE I AM JUST A PLAYER.

LIFE IS A GAME OF RIGHT AND WRONG,
I PLAY BY THE RULES AND REMAIN STRONG.

I HAVE ARRIVED, LEARNED AND SEEN,
BUT WHY?

To Believe or Not to Believe!

What if there is no Absolute Truth? How do we function knowing that everything we think, feel and see is nothing more than mere interpretation of our previous learning's and experiences? What I see as good, you contradict as bad. What I see as great, you view as mediocre. It would make sense that if there was an absolute truth also known as God according to theologians, then perhaps we were created flawed so we would not be able to know absolute truth. I mean why would I create something that does not need me after it is created. For example if I created a robot in my image I would surly not teach it everything that I know, because if I did,it would not need me anymore. In the same fashion if we were created in the Lord's image it's almost certain that we would lack certain attributes that would make us exactly like our creator.
Of course there is a counter argument for that example as there seems to be a counter argument for everything in Philosophy. One could argue that we were created to evolve. History proves this to be true. It is then possible that we were created with the ability to know absolute truth but have not been able to know it as yet. If I created my robot with the ability to think for itself and evolve giving it all the tools it needs to learn, understand and express itself then I need not worry about whether or not it would need me anymore. It is a self sufficient being. If the answer is out there eventually it will find the answer. We search for cures for years with no end in sight but eventually we find a cure for our ailments. In the same fashion we search for absolute truth with no end in sight but we will eventually find it. Do you know the truth? Did you find it yet?

Welcome all!

This is an introductory Blog to express the topic of TRUTH in this world as we perceive it. There are so many different understandings to the idea of truth. The question is do you know what truth is? Philosophers of the past have broken up theories of truth into four sub categories: Subjective truth, relative truth, objective truth and absolute truth. For the purpose of this discussion and because it is probably the most popular of all philosophical truths I will discuss the idea of ABSOLUTE TRUTH. This is the truth that is literally out of this world. For theologists there is only one absolute truth, in fact the very word "absolute" is believed to be the supreme being, God. What this means is that nothing that we know to be true is true. Not even 1 + 1 = 2. How can this be you ask? Well if one were to take a theologists approach to life then every thing we know in this world is either subjective, relative or objective. Even 1 + 1 = 2 can be seen as subjective, relative or objective.


For example if you had one cup of juice and poured it into a cup and took another cup of juice and poured it into the same cup (assuming that the cup is big enough) you would still only have one cup of juice. Which means that 1 cup + 1 cup = 1 cup. Which also means that 1 + 1 = 1, not 2. You could argue that 2 cups of juice were poured into one cup and therefore explain it as such. In that case it would become relative to the situation. Weather subjective, relative or objective it seems that absolute truth is unattainable. Truth is always skewed by one's perception. Is there anything that we as human beings can be certain off? Perhaps finding an absolute truth would mean answering life's biggest question. Do you know the truth? Lets explore!