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.