Our Truth Galaxies

Truth is vast and complex, but “What is truth?” Pilate famously asked roughly two thousand years ago. If you’ve struggled in a relationship, been caught up in a political argument, taken sides in a science-versus-religion debate, or ever worried about there being life after death, you may have asked that question as well.

Rather than attempt to answer it, let’s just talk about truth: my truth and your truth, marital truth and political truth, scientific and religious truth. Like the varied formations in the Grand Canyon, these realms of truth are vast and detailed in both time and space.

Here are six possible explorations of our Grand Canyon of Truth (GCT). The first exploration is a flight over the GCT. It begins with a look at both the simplicity of your statements and the complexity of their interpretation. It then takes you over some established contexts in which truth matters. Sounds simple, but trying to fully grasp and circumscribe those contexts and their consequences is like trying to visually grasp and differentiate the innumerable galaxies that our visual adventures into outer space are now revealing—the Milky Way galaxy in which we reside being but one. This exploration may leave you thinking that truth ultimately resides in our minds.

The next three excursions are explorations into our marital, political, and institutional truth formations. While these truths are easily recognized, siblings and friends, and certainly those in other communities and countries, are often caught up in them quite differently. This may leave you wondering whether the GCT is not ultimately cultural.

The fifth excursion takes you into the revelatory truths of our spiritual pathfinders This cross-cultural excursion may leave you wondering if truth is not somehow sourced in our genes.

In the last excursion, you will be rafting down the GCT in a contemplation of your truth. This excursion is best taken with some well-meaning friends who are willing to discuss the consequences of how you address your most basic concerns.

Taken together, these excursions will leave you with a clearer orientation toward life, an integrated view of science and religion, and a more structured and visual way of understanding wherein lies your joy of life.