Truth Is Suffering Very Much These Days

In Philosophy the most fundamental law of all thought is the "Law of Non-Contradiction." It states that something cannot both be true and false at the same time in the same sense.

The structure of St. Thomas Aquinas' famous work Summa Theologiae acknowledges the diversity of positions on the same specific question, positions which are contradictory to each other, but each with their own supporting arguments. Thomas, the philosopher-theologian and saint, spent a great deal of his life seeking and exposing the truth.

The history of the world is replete with philosophers and thinkers who sought the truth: on the nature of things, what the world was created for, how it works, where it is going, etc. Thinkers wanted to know basically what the truth of things is and they used the resources of their minds to find it. The search always ended with arriving at different opinions of what the truth really is, and each proponent of a position manifests certitude on what they arrived at. Some say truth is relative. "I have my truth and you have yours. There is no such thing as absolute truth."

This diversity of opinions and of positions claimed as true is characteristic especially of the modern age. Advanced communication technology -- the internet's capability to disseminate information with "unbelievable instantaneous speed" has made possible the chaos and confusion in information. There is a proliferation of both fake and genuine, both true and untrue, information.

When Jesus was brought to Pilate, Pilate found it necessary to ask: "What is truth?" But he probably did not care about the answer because he only wanted to protect his position as governor of Judea.

The search for truth is not only an intellectual exercise. It must involve the heart, too. After all, man has two major parts: the brain and the heart. Expressed in another way, man has the faculties of intellect and will. Man is fully human only when and if he uses these two in conjunction with each other.

It is different if one were to choose the heart and dictate its urgings to the mind. Maybe if the heart is pure then the mind can be brought to bear on what one must conclude and purvey.

But must one be only a consumer of what is presented by others as true? Or must one exercise his own power of the mind guided by the power of his heart in discerning what is presented to him by others as truth?

Fake news is associated with what is deliberately purveyed as true, when its purveyors know that they are not. Dishonesty is what fuels it. Certainly such purveyors of fake news are very talented in their minds, and they are very aggressive in implementing what they have in their hearts, in implementing their own personal agenda, or perhaps the agenda of those who pay them for it.

And so it is incumbent on all to not just accept, but discern the truth in all these topics of the day. One must examine his heart: Am I interested in the truth, wherever it may bring me to, or am I just supposed to accept one side, or end up frustrated and helpless seeing, hearing and reading the conflicting statements that come our way?

Are we supposed to rest in the thought that conflict and chaos must be allowed to reign uncommented upon, or must I put in my "cent's worth" and be part of the conversation or opinion mix?

I go with the statement attributed to Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.”

I think we must first be honest and good and then we can search for the truth and arrive at it.

And Truth is a Person. It is Christ.

He is The Way, The Truth, and the Life. And no one comes to the Father but through Him.

People are correct when they say that the world is in confusion, is sick, and in chaos. It pervades especially the secular culture. But unfortunately, even some in the Church and those who profess to follow Christ have become infected with the virus that produced this sad state of affairs.

I believe that The Truth will heal the world, and set it free, if we seek Him in honesty, in good faith, and humility.#