Truth(s)

In a Socratic session during a high school literature class, I spoke about truth. There were misconceptions in the class, many of which came from the instructor- a new-age hipster, popular with all the students for his semi-counter-culture way of looking at life. He, as it turned out, believed there was no truth, but rather many truths. That is utter bullshit.

In life, there is only one truth. By very definition, there can only ever be one truth. Literally speaking, the truth is a statement regarding a fact. Facts are indisputable. Opinions, however, are open to dispute and debate.

This brings us to the misuse and abuse of the word truth. Many people use the word true or truth to represent a personal opinion on a particular matter. This, by the above linked definition, is wrong in every sense. Many people pose their opinion as the truth, and many people have opinions regarding facts. But, there is no opinion that can be called truth. There are only the two separate entities- truth and opinion.

As an example, I will use something we are all very familiar- literally the example from my Socratic session. Watter is wet. Now, you may have an opinion regarding how wet water is, or how watter feels against your skin as an individual. But none of those things displace the truth that watter is, in fact, wet. The very property that defines watter is that it is fluid. And any matter that is in a fluid state is considered to be wet, as a matter of fact. This, combined with the myriad other properties that water displays constitutes what we call wet. There is literally no debate to be had, because "water is wet" is a fact- a truth.

Take a moment now to consider the number of times someone has confused opinion with truth in your life. How many times has someone shared their opinion as though it was a fact? Try to keep a close ear on conversations throughout your day to discern who is reciting facts, and who is reciting opinion. Then, as a bonus, try to find who is reciting their own opinion, and who is regurgitating another person's opinion as though it were the truth. The results may very well shock you! But that's just my opinion.