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How Right Can We Be About The Truth?
It seems a peaceable way to ‘let live’ and allow everyone to have their own slice of truth, as long as ‘no damage is done.’ This false security is shown up today for how flimsy it is — when we see families, churches, communities warring each other over fault lines of relative and personal assessment of truth.
Most of us despair of finding truth these days when we cannot be sure which sources of information are fully reliable.
But truth-seeking is of paramount importance.
Without this commitment to seek the truth, we could not learn from our mistakes to prevent a repeat of harmful scenarios and outcomes. We cannot challenge our cognitive biases and prejudicial tendencies until we value the truth. It is the only way to foster a more honest understanding of oneself.
Truth-seeking is the goal of scientific inquiry, historical research, and business audits.
But alas, sometimes the ones entrusted with safeguarding the truth, end up distorting it and perpetuating systems that prevent the truth from being found out. Whether for raw ambition, for fear of being exposed for their hypocrisy, or out of hubris mixed with ignorance, we are witnessing the increasing incidences of these abuses coming to light. The toxicity and damage they cause may again cause us to disparage truth-seeking, but…