" True - Lies " & "Concepts of Truth "

P.Natarajan.

What is truth?; what is a lie ?, what is a ' true-lie '. Let us ponder over these terms for a while for some absorbing revelations/lessons.

We all know that truth is that which is in agreement with fact or reality. Honesty, sincerity,good-faith are its other common names. A simple definition of truth is that which is opposite of lies.


" THE SUN-RISE " PICTURE ABOVE SYMBOLIZES " THE WHOLE TRUTH "

Truth and what we believe to be true is not same. People are different from each other, so are their thoughts about the same object or person. There are different ways you can look at things which possibility raises a question ' how can there be one truth'? Truth is relative.

A lie is an international violation of truth, uttered for deception. Lying with an intention to cheat can cause more harm. The lies are uttered in such a way that they sound to be true. You can term them as ' true - lies '. 'True-Lies' is an oxymoron by way of figure of speech as they combine contradictory words like the epithets ' cruel kindness, pointedly foolish, falsely true ' and so on.



In the movie ' True-Lies ', Arnold Schwarzenegger who was under terrorist captivity was given a shot of drug in order to extract or make ' AS ' to disclose some secret information. This drug gained a nick name ' Truth Serum '. But it is a misconception that truth serum will make a person to tell the truth as projected in the movie. The proper name for the drug is 'sodium pentomal' which is used as an anesthetic during surgery. It causes a few minutes of sedation, and under the influence of the drug, truth can not be extracted as a person may not lose self control to let out the truth.

Three Levels of Truth:-

They are 'Scriptural Truth' (Canon), 'Cultural Truth' and 'Conscience Truth' . These levels influence our lives every day and it is therefore necessary to understand them to avoid unnecessary sufferings.

'Law of Gravity' or 'Law of Lift' are basic absolutes and consistant that greatly impact our lives everyday. When an airplane is flying at an altitude of 35000 feet, it is the 'Law of Lift' that overcomes the 'Law of Gravity' to make it fly at that altitude. Suppose the law of lift gives up, the airplane would start falling like a rock and all of a sudden the earth below would become closer. To save from the impending disaster, the pilot would operate 'Max-Climb' control when the plane would launch forward and finally stabilize at a new height.
Thus we see absolute law or Canon truth that is consistent which powers the plane to launch forward. We experience in such circumstances the impact of scriptural or Canon peace in everyday life. 'Gita' teaches canon truth. 'God' is consistently constant, that is one thing which makes God, 'God'. When you speak the truth, you get relieved and feel light and stress is avoided happily.




Cultural truth :- Practices vary between one ethnic group and the another. There could be a culture within a culture. Behaviour patterns accepted in one group may not get accepted in the another. Behaviour is a part of attitudinal trends which assumes significance by the experience gained by the taught or thought process. Doing the same thing may be regarded as a guilt in another culture as they may term it as a 'non-truth'.

Conscience Truth :- It is something to do with the self or self governing. Conscience truth is programmed by the influence of Canon Truth and Cultural Truth. It is a conviction that is right or wrong " TO YOU ". There is a saying in the Computer Industry. When you program a Computer with 'garbage-in', what it results is
'garbage-out'. This is true for our conscience too. When a person is consumed in the womb, conscience is formed in the soul or spirit. In other words a basic set of truth is instilled by the God within the person's conscience. It can be dulled or sharpened. Devotional music, good reading, wholesome visual inputs sharpen the conscience for good where as the negative aspects of brain-storming may dull the conscience.

Concepts of truth can be understood from 'Law', "Science & Mathematics'.
We are familiar that a witness in a trial may be called upon to swear what they are about to say is ' the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth'. The type of truth we are dealing with in law is properly governed by the definition given above viz 'conformity to fact or actuality'.

In Science or Mathematics, statements can be made about the way the world works that can be proved to be 'true' in all circumstances. The Pythagoras Theorem can be stated and proved that the square of the two adjacent sides of a right angled triangle is equal to the square of the hypotenuse. Likewise proofs, many, can be drafted to prove the LHS is equal to RHS in mathematics :-
eg. (a + b ) whole square = a square + 2 a.b + b square.

In science, experiments can be conducted to prove the 3rd law of Newton that ' for every action, there an equal and opposite reaction'.

When we move to Religion or Spirituality, we have to leave these definitions, theories behind. Look at the statement ' Do unto others , as you would have to do them unto you'. Does this statement express the truth? or does it suggest the way we should live?
Statements made from Vedas, Upanishads, Scriptures, Bible or Buddha's Sayings are accepted in general by the public. 'God Exists' is accepted as truth or as a golden rule. Here it acts as a solution to our spiritual quest what truth is.

Living in a religious way or within the borders of acceptability, enhances the moral fabric of a person's living. A mother's care for an infant is natural, similarly the son looks after the parents when they become old and physically weak.

The concept of truth from the above illustrations can also be viewed as :- " Truth is that what leads to good "

pn