Truth is Absolute

If I have one creed, one statement of faith, it is this: Truth is absolute, perception is relative.

I picked up this very simple fact during a philosophy class in seminary. We were studying various philosophical positions on the nature of truth and how some philosophies hold that truth is relative. This seemed at once a very absurd, yet a somewhat attractive position to take. Absurd because it just doesn't seem to jive with the way we experience reality, yet attractive because it makes room for all of us to agree to disagree. How often have we heard the wise end an argument with a sly smile and the words "what's true for you is true for you, and what's true for me is true for me?"

Still, I couldn't get past the absurdity of it, nor the uncomfortable feeling that it was too synthetic -- that it was more a way around a problem than a true observation of reality. That's when it occurred to me. This simple, common sense, and (to me) profound thought: It's not truth that's relative. Truth is absolute -- what's true is true regardless of our point of view. It's our point of view, our perception of the truth that is relative.

Accepting the absolute nature of truth keeps me at peace with my neighbor, grounded in reality, and open to Truth as it is revealed to me through my experiences.

I stay at peace with my neighbor because I know I can't change truth by arguing about it. I can not argue god (or anything else) into (or out of) existence. There's a saying I picked up while working with a mission in Chicago -- "God is God all by Himself". My version is a little different -- "The truth is true all by itself." Truth doesn't need my help. I don't need to convince a certain number of people in order to make my version of the truth "real". If god exists, it's not because I say it louder than the atheist I'm arguing with says god is a myth. Truth is absolute, and no amount of arguing actually changes what is real.

I stay grounded in reality because I give up attempting to warp the universe into a shape that fits my current beliefs. What is is. It's not that I can't change reality. I can! I can impact the universe by interacting with it physically, socially, politically -- through actual work. But I can't just sit, meditate, and think good thoughts and bring about real change. My bank account won't stay positive just because my thoughts are positive. And I'm free from the insanity of trying to force the world to adhere to my worldview, because I know I can't believe god (or anything else) into (or out of) existence.

Accepting that I can't force reality to fit my philosophy finally sets me free to experience reality and open myself to revelation. Once I've stopped trying to believe, I can simply experience the wold and draw from that experience whatever conclusions naturally arise. For me, this is the cornerstone of agnosticism. I can only learn what I do not claim to already know. I only claim to know that which I'm so convinced of that I try to force into reality. Once I stop trying to force reality, I stop "knowing" and start learning. Truth, and not my version of it, becomes my Absolute.