Truth Can’t be Truth if it’s Captured

When I was a spiritual care practitioner (chaplain) in health care, every day I met suffering people. Sometimes their suffering was purely physical. But on many occasions their physical pain was accompanied by religious or spiritual suffering.

According to researchers, religious or spiritual suffering can emerge when a person’s beliefs can’t account for their experiences. There are two questions that give insight into this experience:

1. How can a loving God allow me (or cause me) to suffer this way?
2. Why is God punishing me?

As a spiritual care practitioner, I was responsible to gently explore these questions with these people. The goal was, somehow, to ease the pain and suffering these questions caused along with the person’s physical discomfort.

My profession gives me several tools to explore beliefs with all sorts of people. Sometimes beliefs can help people. At other times a person’s beliefs can harm them. I’m not the only one who thinks this.

Researchers who explore spirituality, religion, and health have identified several criteria to tell the difference between helpful and unhelpful beliefs. I agree with this approach. But I also believe the reality goes somewhat deeper.

In a previous post I stated both religion and spirituality concern Truth with a capital “T”. In yet another post I told a story regarding an experience of Truth. I therefore suggest the following: a person’s attitudes toward Truth have direct bearing on their religious and spiritual health, especially in times of crisis.

This will need some unpacking.

In philosophy and religion, questions of Truth are very difficult. Philosophers have constructed elaborate theories to determine how languages express truth. Religious thinkers have similarly spent millennia reflecting on, defining, and refining Divine truth.

“The reality of Truth is actually quite simple.”

While the discussions surrounding these topics are extremely complicated, I believe the reality of Truth is actually quite simple. In short: Truth can’t be Truth if it’s captured.

What do I mean by this?

Reality is so vast, so complex, so infinitely wonderful, that its Truth can never, ever, be fully captured in words, in concepts, in art, math, science, or any other human endeavour. This is especially the case when it comes to religious or spiritual Truth.

Nothing is excluded from Truth. Because of this, it is impossible to know or understand Truth in all its vast reality. Anyone who says otherwise is either arrogant, deluding themself, or both. Religious thinkers can sometimes tend in this direction by stating they alone possesses Truth.

But any person or organization can only ever have partial, if not fragmentary, glimpses of Truth.

This being stated, we can all have a deeply felt appreciation for Truth. This comes when we understand the fullness of Truth is always beyond us.

“Truth is always a lived experience.”

Truth is therefore always a lived experience. It involves understanding the limits of our perspectives. It also involves a deep awareness of living on the edge of mystery. This mystery is Truth, and it can not, and will not, ever be captured.

So, spiritual or religious health lies not in the content of beliefs that might or might not cause us problems. Rather, health lies in the attitudes with which we hold our beliefs.

In my health care experiences, those who were open-ended in their beliefs usually fared better than those who held their beliefs inflexibly.

Does this mean a person must be wishy-washy to do well in life? Absolutely not! But it does mean a living relationship with Truth’s mystery will do a person better than a rigid and inflexible approach to life.

Here are five things you can do to build your appreciation for Truth’s mystery:

1. Grow your awareness of how small your perspective is. Take time to talk with people or read things you wouldn’t normally engage. Do so without defensiveness or a desire to convince others of your perspective. Rather, do this with a genuine desire to understand others’ perspectives. See what happens; see how your perspectives change as a result.
2. Grow your appreciation for the person you are. Do this by reflecting on the people you’re not. Open yourself to what other people bring to your relationships. Think also about what you bring to these relationships. Do this honestly so you can celebrate your differences, while also understanding why your relationships work, or don’t, as the case may be.
3. Grow your appreciation for things you don’t understand. Look at the things around you. Do you understand how to build things? Do you know how to give a good speech? Do you understand how the universe came into being, with all its intricacy? Express your admiration for those who do understand these things. Think of the work they had to put into understanding them. Reflect on the work you’ve put into understanding the things you’ve learned.
4. Reflect on the things you don’t know or understand about yourself. Have conversations with your friends and family about them, if you feel comfortable. Make a plan for how you might explore them together.
5. Begin a regular prayer or meditation practice. This, like nothing else, will help you experience Truth’s mystery first-hand.

Cultivating flexibility and openness is crucial to living through the crises life will inevitably bring. Knowing and appreciating Truth’s mystery is central to this work. Ultimately, this perspective might be best remembered by repeating: Truth can’t be Truth if it’s captured. Truth can’t be Truth if it’s captured. Truth can’t be Truth if it’s captured . . .

I wish you well on your journey. Join me again for more insights on journeying deeply.

References

Habermas, J. (2003). Truth and justification. Edited with translations by Barbara Fultner. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Harman, G. (2018). Object-Oriented Ontology: a new theory of everything. London, UK: Penguin Random House.

Pargament, K.I. (2007). Spiritually integrated psychotherapy: Understanding and assessing the sacred. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Wright, L.M. and Bell, J.M. (2009). Beliefs and illness: A model for healing. Calgary, AB: 4th Floor Press.

Disclaimer: The advice and suggestions offered on this site are not substitutes for consultation with qualified mental or spiritual health professionals. The perspectives offered here are those of the author, not of those professionals with whom readers might have relationships as clients or patients. In crisis situations, readers are encouraged to contact these professionals for appropriate support and treatment if needed.