How Do We Get To Know The Truth?

By RAYMOND DESOUZA

Many people confuse truth with personal opinion, as if our preferences would change reality as we please. In matters involving religion, the assertion that all religions lead to God, regardless of their inner contradictions, is manifestly and demonstrably wrong. It’s as simple as that.

In last week’s installment, we saw that truth is the agreement of our mind with reality. The first way to find this out is to realize that our minds can apprehend the truth by our own personal experience: a fire burns, a man is not a woman, a baby in the womb is a human being in formation.

Now let us examine the other three ways by which we get to know the truth.

1. Simply Reasoning

In our days of constant internet, texting, and less personal contact among people, sometimes reasoning is an ability in short supply. But it can be done, of course, and by reasoning we can know the truth.

Example: You find a watch in the sand. Immediately you know that someone dropped it there. You know that it did not come out of the sand all ready and ticking, let alone that it made itself. No argument from anyone will ever convince you that nobody made the watch.

You know, too, that a monkey did not make it. Nor did an Australian koala. Therefore, simple, clear reason tells you that only a being with intelligence could make it. You know that the watch was made by a man or a group of men. Thus, reasoning is a good way to know many important truths.

2. Merely Understanding A Truth

Some truths are so self-evident that they do not require an argument to prove them. We simply know them. We know that they are true as soon as we understand them. They themselves show us that they are true. Hence, they are called self-evident truths.

Example: Once you know what a whole pizza is, and what a slice of that same pizza is, immediately you know that the slice will always be smaller than the whole pizza, and the pizza will always be larger than any of its slices. No reasoning is required here. No looking outside the truth itself for proof. The whole is always larger than any of its parts. It bears within itself its own evidence. It is a self-evident truth.

3. Accepting The Truth On The Authority Of Another

Many truths we have to accept on the authority  of others. Every day we accept scores of truths on authority. History is based upon this kind of knowledge.

Example: Your wife calls you at work saying that your son is seriously ill and she has taken him to the hospital. You believe her. You call for a taxi, and the man tells you that it will be there in 15 minutes. You believe him. You take his word for it.

You know the date of your birthday on the authority of your parents. It is the same for countless other truths that we learn from our parents, authorities, historical events, and so on. If you could believe only those things that we witness personally, your life would be miserable, as you would not even know that you have a brain.

The Principle Of Non-Contradiction

It is a typical sign of mental sanity to believe that a thing cannot be and not be at the same time and from the same point of view.

Suppose your teacher marks a sum wrong on your exam. Why? Because it cannot be right and wrong at the same time. If it could, it would violate the principle of non-contradiction. Then it would not be an answer but an absurdity, a contradiction in terms, like a brick with a headache or an angel with false teeth.

If a politician seriously thinks he is a horse growing tomatoes in outer space while commanding the Persian troops against Canada, he is put into an asylum. Why? Only because he is breaking the principle of non-contradiction which makes it impossible for him to be a man, yet not be a man, at the same time and from the same point of view.

The principle of non-contradiction is a universal law of sanity. It is a self-evident truth. We have a metaphysical certitude concerning it. And to try to deny it is to make all further thought and speech absolutely impossible. It is to commit complete mental hara-kiri, the destruction of any form of science and knowledge.

People today often fail to apply this principle in their search for truth. The result is most alarming. It is heartbreaking. It is the mental anomaly called relativism. Never before, perhaps, in history have men yearned more ardently for truth than they do today. But, through ignoring this first principle, they have made it impossible for themselves ever to find the truth, or to recognize it when found.

Conclusion

To be able to participate effectively in evangelization, to be an authentic apostle of the new millennium, to assist in the talks of re-evangelizing the baptized — these are expressions coined by Pope John Paul II — and to respond with a clear faith, according to the creed of the Church (Pope Benedict XVI), to the dictatorship of relativism that is confronting the world, it is necessary to have clearly in mind these basic principles of sanity: Truth is objective, not subjective, and nothing can be and not be at the same time from the same point of view. Fidelity to the truth means mental sanity.

Only the truth shall set us free. Jesus Christ, and He alone, is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Catholics — both lay and clergy — need to learn apologetics to provide Catholics in general in America and beyond with all the tools necessary to learn how to defend and share the truths of our holy faith in an intelligent, courteous, and effective manner.

“[I]t is essential in your particular Churches to develop a new apologetic for your people, so that they may understand what the Church teaches and thus be able to give reason for their hope (cf. 1 Peter 3:15). For in a world where people are continuously subjected to the cultural and ideological pressure of the media and the aggressively anti-Catholic attitude of many sects, it is essential for Catholics to know what the Church teaches, to understand that teaching, and to experience its liberating power [emphasis added]. A lack of understanding leads to a lack of the spiritual energy needed for Christian living and the work of evangelization” (Pope John Paul II, Address to the Bishops of the Antilles on Their ‘Ad Limina‘ Visit, May 7, 2002).

According to an Aug. 19, 2007 report on Pope Benedict XVI’s Angelus at Castel Gandolfo, “The peace of Christ is not ‘the absence of conflict’ but the ‘struggle against evil’,” Benedict XVI says. He added that being instruments of Christ’s peace means ‘defeating evil with good.’

“Speaking about the words of Jesus: ‘Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division’ — the Holy Father clarified that this saying ‘means the peace that he came to bring is not synonymous with the simple absence of conflict.’

“‘On the contrary, the peace of Jesus is the fruit of a constant struggle against evil. The battle that Jesus has decided to fight is not against men or human powers but against the enemy of God and man, Satan,’ the Pontiff emphasized.

“He continued: ‘Those who desire to resist this enemy, remaining faithful to God and the good, must necessarily deal with misunderstandings and sometimes very real persecution.

“‘Thus, those who intend to follow Jesus and commit themselves without compromises to the truth must know that they will face opposition and will become, despite themselves, a sign of division among persons, even within their own families.’

“‘Christ is not looking for tired conformists, but witnesses of courageous faith, those who burn in the fire of his love’” (“What Is the Secret to Christ’s Peace? Pope Benedict XVI Urges Struggle Against Evil,” ZENIT News).

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