Shortcut to Truth?

High Peaks of the Elk Range. Colorado, 2014 (Up here, Mother Nature, rather than politics or ideology, dictate any conclusions about The Truth–and She can be very direct and harsh about it.)

I always have thought that historians, politicians, writers, philosophers, and artists all really do capture some element of The Truth of our human condition in their discourse. Even politicians with whom I don’t normally agree can sometimes speak a bit of wisdom.

The question is what percent of the truth does any one individual capture? Surely nowhere close to 100%.

An example: A very good and popular historian–say, Bruce Catton on the Civil War period–may capture perhaps 30% to 50% of The Truth or the reality of that period. In order to arrive at a complete picture, one would need to study a nearly infinite number of historical accounts from myriad different perspectives. And do they all get their facts right?

Another example: Picasso’s Guernica. How much of The Truth of the Spanish Civil War is captured in that painting? Surely some, no? But how much, at what level, and what kind of truth?

Same with politics. Even Rush Limbaugh can be right now and then. (I am tempted to say that even a broken clock is right twice a day.) But what percent of The Truth of the American political scene does he really capture? If you are of the Tea Party persuasion, you might say 90% at least…if you are of the Green Party end of the spectrum, you would say his percentage is more like 5%, if that.

So, how does one get to The Truth? Does such a thing even exist? Is it an impossible task? Are we too vested in our personal opinions to allow any evidence, no matter how rock solid, to change our minds? Is it even possible for an adult homo sapiens to have a truly open mind? Questions…questions.

Perhaps to get as close to The Truth as might be possible we might…

…realize we are not always right–we can and will be wrong many times.

…understand that we will naturally have a vested interest in our instinctive opinions about the world.

…be wary of holding on to opinions that are supported only by our feelings, our upbringing, or by anecdotal evidence.

…be even more wary of unqualified “experts” who claim to have a monopoly on a particular truth.

…understand that it is a mature thing to change one’s mind when presented with overwhelming proof.

…ask ourselves this question: “To find out if this or that is true, what facts, details, and specific evidence would I need to know?”

On this last point, try it out with any question currently in the news–maybe the Affordable Care Act, the Palestinian-Israel conflict, global warming policy, creation of a new wilderness area, housing for the homeless, the defense budget, Social Security, child vaccinations, rising college tuition prices, Head Start funding, voter fraud, welfare fraud, whatever. Pick a question and ask yourself, “What facts would I need in order to come to a reasoned conclusion on the subject?”

There is a very good chance you already have an opinion on the topic and it is probably not based on anything close to a systematic, open-minded, multiple-source, study of the evidence (ideally, academic, peer-reviewed, evidence). Nope. It is likely based more on your opinion, how you were brought up, conversations with friends and coworkers, the latest radio or TV program you ingested, and so on.

Oh, how nice it would be to have rational, rather than ideological, dialogue in this country.