Personal Reality and Objective Truth (A Spiritual Exercise in Phenomenology)
Although science, religion and other systems of belief continue to seek it and cling to the concepts behind it, objective truth is really a…
Although science, religion and other systems of belief continue to seek it and cling to the concepts behind it, objective truth is really a myth. Each of us is experiencing a unique and personal reality. Perhaps if we become more aware of this, we will cease to expend so much vindictiveness and rage upon each other over ideologies that just don’t match up. “Truth” is always a matter of personal significance. Even the very words that we use to try to capture it, or to communicate it to each other, will have nuances of meaning that are unique to each of us.
This is why so many conflicts — ranging from Internet flame wars to larger scale jihads and other “holy crusades” — can erupt around various ideologies. People on both sides of the argument will see their own position as an obvious truth, something self-evident, and feel infuriated when others do not perceive it in the same way. It is self-evident to them because their belief in itself paints their experience.
The essence of a cult philosophy could be summarized thus: “Our group holds the truth, and the rest of the world is in darkness.” If you narrow that down to an individual level — i.e., “I possess the truth” — then you have the definitive characteristic of a dictator’s mind. We could live in a much greater state of harmony in this world if we were content to seek and express that which is true for ourselves.
The Gnostics of centuries ago held to a pretty revolutionary doctrine for their time. They asserted that true religion was a personal matter between one’s soul and God. In other words, let’s do away with the middlemen (for the Gnostics, this meant the early clergy). Even this philosophy can be easily distorted, however, because we all will have our own associations to words like “soul” and “God.” But there’s something to be said for treating your own personal life experience as a sacred gift.
In psychological terms, the ego fears for its own identity and so it creates various safeguards. What this means is that when we’re carrying on our internal monologs a large part of what we’re doing is reiterating what we believe is real and possible and thereby conditioning ourselves to experience reality along those lines. We also tend to draw people into our lives who will reinforce our sense of “reality” because they share similar underlying belief systems. That’s why committing to a spiritual path or practice can potentially change everything in your life, including your friends, your work, and your intimate partnerships.
Spiritual work revolves around examining our beliefs and discarding or altering those that create limiting or otherwise adverse life experiences. We are still dealing with personal reality rather than some kind of objective truth, however, because those of us who manage to achieve a positive shift of belief will find, therefore, that our particular practice “works.” We’ll become convinced of the truth and the power of that discipline because of the result. Hopefully, this will not lead us to judge or disregard practices and beliefs that may work perfectly well for others. Let us not become so arrogant as to presume to understand other people's’ reality, or to know what their truth is.