This set of slides explores the deeper questions about truth.

1. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE
TRUTH: PART 2
G L E N N M A R T I N
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6

2. INTRODUCTION
This is the second set of slides on the question of “truth”. It seeks to
face some of the questions that were left hanging in the first set.
Essentially, the first set of slides aimed at clearing the deck. It
discussed and distinguished between the different ways in which we
use the word “truth”.
Much of the time when we say “truth”, it is in the sense of the truth, or
the reality, about something in the material or emotional world.
Jesus and John Keats both raise more difficult questions:
 “Beauty is truth, and truth is beauty.” (John Keats)
 “I am the way, the truth and the light.” (Jesus)
What are they talking about (if we accept that they may be talking
about something that makes sense and is important)?

3. THE TRUTH: (1) ….AND NOT-TRUTH
Most commonly, we use the word “truth” as a
counter-point to all that is not-truth.
The opposite of “the truth” is a lie, an attempt at
deceit, or simply something that is mistaken.
So far, this is straightforward.
For example:
“Where were you last night? Tell me the truth.”
[Although, as the image suggests, truth and not-truth are
mirror images, and the relationship between them is often
complex and dynamic rather than a simple dichotomy.]

4. TRUTH ≠ KNOWLEDGE
Australian Prime Minister Harold
Holt disappeared in the sea at
Cheviot Beach in Victoria on 17
December 1967.
Note: In some cases, we may not be able to
establish certainty about what the truth is, but we
accept that there is a set of facts that is the truth
about the situation (eg What happened to the
Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt?).

5. THE TRUTH: (2) PERSPECTIVES
One answer to the question: “What is
truth?” is that people have different
perspectives on it.
Without sight, with just the evidence
of touch, I conclude that the creature
is like a snake; you conclude it is like
a mat, or a spear or a wall,
depending on the evidence from
your perspective (vantage point).
In this case the reality is the same – it
is an elephant; it’s just that you and I
can only know (see) certain things
from where we are standing.

6. THE TRUTH: (3) IMPORTANCE
Another answer rests on the idea
that humans speak in metaphors
much more than they generally
recognise.
When John Keats says “Beauty is
truth”, perhaps he is really saying
that beauty is what’s most
important in life.
In the same way,
peace is truth,
love is truth.
Accordingly, we can say that “Boy
looking at Mount Fuji” is an
expression of truth, or peace, or
beauty.
What we mean is that these things
are of pre-eminent importance in
life.

7. THE TRUTH: (4) DEEP TRUTH
Sometimes when we talk about truth, we may be contrasting
surface truth with deep truth.
Surface truth is day-to-day truth related to the everyday
world: the sun came up; it rained today; the music was loud….
We can reach agreement on such things, often quite easily.
Deep truth is like Jack Kerouac saying “The only truth is
music”. He is not talking about surface truth; he is referring to
something deeper.
What can we say about “deep truth”?
o It is beyond words, or at least, it cannot be
exhaustively expressed in words.
o It implies resonance – the feeling generated inside us
resonates with something that is outside us, or
beyond us.
o It brings us into oneness with what is outside us. It
implies that we “just know”.

8. UNPACKING MICHAEL LYNCH
Recall what Michael Lynch said (True to
Life, MIT Press, 2004):
“We have conflicting beliefs about truth;
sometimes we think it is discovered,
sometimes knowable, sometimes
mysterious.”
We’ve talked about truth as discoverable,
or knowable. Do we need a category for
truth that is mysterious? Or is this simply
what we mean by deep truth?

9. TRUTH AND MYSTERY
“There are two kinds of truth. One kind consists of
statements so simple and clear that the opposite
assertion obviously could not be defended. The other
kind, the so-called 'deep truths', are statements in which
the opposite also contains deep truth.” Niels Bohr,
physicist
This sounds crazy, but we do have a category called
paradox.
It cries out for an example. What could it be?

10. EXAMPLE: TRUTH AND PARADOX

11. TRUTH: MORE THAN PARADOX
However, although the concept of
paradox extends our horizons,
ultimately it is not enough; we need
more.
We want to know more about the
nature of this truth that is deep and
which may be paradoxical.
There are two realms to explore:
1. Truth in relation to the physical
world (matter and energy)
2. Truth in relation to the world of
human experience.

12. QUANTUM PHYSICS AND TRUTH
What is the message of quantum
physics?
“The message of quantum physics is
that not only is there no absolute space
or time, but that reality extends beyond
space-time. Metaphorically speaking,
space-time is just the ‘tip of the
iceberg’: below the surface is a vast,
unseen world of possibility.”
- Ruth Kastner
Possibility

13. CULTURE AND TRUTH
I am the wind which breathes upon the sea,
I am the wave of the ocean,
I am the murmur of the billows,
I am the ox of the seven combats,
I am the vulture upon the rock,
I am a beam of the sun,
I am the fairest of plants,
I am a wild boar in valour,
I am a salmon in the water,
I am a lake in the plain,
I am a word of science,
I am the point of the lance in battle,
I am the God who creates in the head the fire.
Who is it who throws light into the meeting on the
mountain?
Who announces the ages of the moon?
Who teaches the place where couches the sun?
(Amergin: Chant as the first ancestors of the Irish people stepped
ashore)
Quantum physics is one thing; the other thing is
culture (that is, human community). In the latter
realm we accept that the vehicle for truth is
experience, which is often mediated best through
song and poetry.

14. REALISATION
The Irish poem/song embodies the assertion: “I am”,
many times.
The tension is this:
(1) the truth is something given – it is out there, and it is
as it is.
(2) Or, the truth is as we make it: If I am the wave of the
ocean, I will roll onward. If I am the point of the lance in
battle, I will impale those who stand against me.
Clearly, our intention is significant in all of this. Not so
clearly, our understanding is likewise significant. It
impinges upon, it has an effect upon, reality.
We are left with our choices. Not what we thought. We
thought that the facts were determinative.

15. TRUTH AND OUR PART IN IT
The objective approach to matters of personal truth cannot shed any light upon that
which is most essential to a person's life. (Kierkegaard)
SHRUTIS: The Revealing Science of God can be seen
as an ever-opening flower in which simple truths
emerge examining the complexities and magic of the
past and how we should not forget the song that has
been left to us to hear. The knowledge of God is a
search, constant and clear.
[Comment on music album “Tales from Topographic
Oceans,” by Yes]
“We won’t render our song clearer.” Jon Anderson,
Yes

16. TRUTH AND ETHICS
Corollary: What we think about truth affects how
we think about ethics.
Ethics is not a given of the universe, it is a choice,
a commitment (a view expressed by Albert
Schweitzer). Nature is nature; ethics is not self-
evident.
Ethics is a choice to have faith in the proposition
that the best thing we can do is to serve the well-
being of the whole, of all-that-is.
Our understanding of the nature of the universe,
or in the absence of understanding, our faith,
leads to our stance towards ethics.

17. The work of Glenn Martin
24 July 2016
www.glennmartin.com.au
Tomorrow, the truth will still be the truth, but I may think differently.