Remember the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Steven Spielberg? The main character, Richard Dreyfuss, got obsessed by a mountain / volcano although he could not understand why. He strongly felt – or “knew” – that finding his way to the mountain would give him the answers he was looking for. To a limited extent, I feel something similar about Mount Kilimanjaro.
Many people are looking for the Truth during their life. I just noticed a blog called The Absolute Truth. It claims to be “a blog for those who are looking for the absolute truth about this world in order to survive and thrive. We live in a world of lies and deceit but can greatly improve our lives if we start living the truth.”
The claim that “we live in a world of lies and deceit” is an interesting one. Given its prominence – as a subtitle – it must be the fundamental hypothesis for that entire blog. The writer strongly believes that the hypothesis is true. Again, the Truth as a belief system.
My quest is for knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Not for the Truth. I do not believe that there is someone or something that holds the Truth on Earth. The (absolute) Truth also implies that it cannot be argued by anyone. During the past few years, I have learned a hard lesson that even facts can become fiction when deliberately presented in a certain way. I have learned my lesson of life: there is no such thing as the Truth. The search for the (absolute) Truth and self-deception seem to be closely related.
After ample consideration and a lot of struggling in my mind, I was finally able to put most of the pieces together and I made the following diagram which I am proud to share with you:
The following quote by John F. Kennedy was quite helpful in arranging my thoughts:
“The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” John F. Kennedy at Yale University, 11 June 1962.
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