Truth and Wisdom

Why do we all see truth so differently?  Truth, as it pertains to facts remains one truth and shouldn’t vary, but truth, as it pertains to quantities, levels and degrees, feelings and opinions can of course vary.  What might seem expensive to one person can seem cheap to another, but the price, itself, remains the same no matter who is looking at it.  In keeping with a Body, Mind and Spirit Approach to ROC and when addressing truth, it is important to recognize that truth can be pursued at different levels. 

Pursuing truth in body (as we talk about at ROC) refers to discovering the correct facts in situations and discerning between honesty, manipulation and dishonesty.  It has to do with discovering what was said, what was done and what actually happened as opposed to opinions about what happened.  In America, we used to trust that our News Media would get the facts accurate because they used to care more about investigating a story accurately then trying to slant a story to meet their agenda.  Many news organizations seem to have shifted their priorities.  This makes searching for truth much more difficult these days because facts have to be checked and cross checked before you can consider them credible, unless you have built up a relationship with a news organization that you can trust to get the facts right.  For news organizations that like to stick to the facts and state their opinions, it is extremely important that you separate the news shows from the commentary shows and understand the difference between the two. 

What is dangerous in America today is that so many people are getting wrong information and then are more interested in maintaining their views than they are in discovering the truth.  How does that happen?  It happens because quite often they go to the same sources for their news, read the same kinds of books, hang out with people who think just like they do and then avoid respectful debate whenever they do come in contact with people who think differently then they do.  In many cases, they have built up a lifetime of doing this so all of their past experiences turn into patterns and these patterns keep reinforcing their biased views. 

I believe that there is an added layer to discerning truth that involves the mind.  Discovering truth with your mind goes beyond facts and involves applying reasoning, logic and discernment.  I believe there are two physical factors that could possibly interfere with this process.  The first has to with the pre-frontal cortex of a person’s brain.  Scientists have determined from MRIs and other tests that there is not as much firing going on in the pre-frontal cortex of adolescence’s brains, compared to the brains of most adults.  The pre-frontal cortex is the part of the brain that engages in reasoning, logic and discernment and leads to wisdom (rather than just intelligence).  I think that it is entirely possible that when emotions get involved into issues, that even in adult brains, the pre-frontal cortex might not function at its maximum, thus interfering with someone’s capacity to decipher truth logically. 

This, by itself may not be enough to explain the differences in processing logic.  However, another theory combined with this might add even more weight to what happens in brains.  I believe that it is possible that we can form pathways in our brains that operate like well traveled highways, so if someone says a “trigger word”, our brains send our thoughts straight down that highway without checking out any side roads along the way.  The end result is that we come to the same conclusion over and over again when we travel that same highway. 

Have you ever learned a person’s name wrong and then every time that you see them, your brain goes down the wrong path first before you realize that you have done it once again; you’ve called them the same wrong name?  Sometimes it takes repeated times being corrected before you can relearn the name correctly.  If you get anxious about it, you can almost build up a phobia whenever you are around that person that further blocks you from getting to that correct name. 

It is a possibility that this same thing occurs with political thoughts.  I think that it is possible that people get so programmed into going down their own highways that they miss truth and logic that they might have found off on the side roads if they had cared to travel on them.  The only way to overcome this is to catch yourself and force yourself to ask questions along the way, like: “am I sure?”, “why?”, “why not?”, “what if?” and “should I look deeper?”.  Basically, you have to care more about finding truth and gaining wisdom than you do about being right.

Between people getting their facts from incorrect sources, people being too emotional to allow their pre-frontal cortex to function at its best and people falling into patterns of high speed highway travel in their brains, I can see how so many people can come to different conclusions to the same set of circumstances.  But, is there possibly even something more to understanding truth and wisdom?

If good people who expose themselves to both sides of issues can still vary so much in their conclusions, then is it possible that there is another deeper factor going on with understanding truth and gaining wisdom?  Could there be a spiritual element to understanding truth and gaining wisdom?  Is it possible that we can be blocked from wisdom simply by never asking God for it in the first place or at minimum, never even fully searching for it?  Whether we block wisdom ourselves or God blocks it, I wouldn’t be willing to guess.  I do believe that one way or another wisdom comes from God.  When we only rely on our own intelligence and then involve our egos and agendas in the process of deciphering information without considering that we may not have all the answers; wisdom itself might be blocked. 

Does that mean if someone doesn’t believe in God or doesn’t directly ask God for wisdom, they will have their wisdom blocked?  I don’t think so.  First of all, I believe that God often gives wisdom to us before we ask for it.  Second, I believe that even those who don’t believe in God can still be searching for truth on any given subject and my guess is that God would bless honest attempts at searching for truth.  Many of us are good at searching for truth in certain areas of our lives, but then hold on to our own egos, agendas and fears in other areas to such a degree that it is possible that truth in those areas could be blocked.  This can happen to people of faith as well as to people not of faith.  In fact, I believe that certain religions actually contribute to blocking wisdom by forcing people to believe certain things and creating fear and anger verses promoting freedom and encouraging individuals to pursue truth.

Activist atheists groups often operate like religions that want to force their views onto others.  With all of their anger, self-assuredness or desire for power and attention, I can’t imagine how wisdom could possibly get through.  Passive atheists are completely different because they quietly go about pursuing their beliefs without the need to undermine other people’s faith in our country.  Passive atheists are more respectful of others, similar to many people of faith.  They actually seem more self-assured about their views, while activist atheists, who are often disrespectful of people of faith, actually seem to be less self-assured about their beliefs.   I have one last thing to say about activist atheists.  Ask yourself; do you get the impression that most activist atheists are motivated by a deep concern for you and your life (as many people of faith are) or are they trying to change the norms in America because they are looking to protect their own hearts or gain power and attention from their own causes? 

In conclusion, I believe that we can pursue truth at three different levels: in body, by searching for accuracy in facts; in mind, by applying logic and reason and in spirit, by asking God to reveal truth to us and to give us wisdom.  If you don’t believe this is possible, I suggest that you try surrendering some of your control and agendas and check it out for yourself.

Sally Pitts
Centennial, Colorado