Getting Intimate with Truth
Earlier this week I was in a dialogue with Jason Markow about a post he wrote called, ”You are What you FEED.” We were talking about how everybody, EVERY ONE has a perspective that is shaped by their story, the stuff that’s made them and shaped their view. I am currently working with a group of guys that during the course of a day we chat about current events, the Afghan War, the President, the environment, etc. Some of the things I hear make me cringe for what sounds like such absurd opinions, or perspective. Sometimes I have to remind myself that any one of these guys is not the sum of their perspective. They are more, so much more. We can lose out when we only engage each other in reactions to a point of view.
But ultimately that means that any point of view is just that - a Point of view. And I hear Madeline L’Engle’s words, “We have a point of view. God has view.” Points of View might be what we like to call “your truth” or “my truth. What if there is a space wherein things aren't relative or defined by points of view?
I would want to become comfortable with that space regardless of the risk to my point of view. It would seem that space would allow me to see the Truth in your point of view, regardless of how I feel.
And then I stumble across these words from Parker Palmer:
”So truth has nothing to do with manufacturing a world, keeping it at a distance, manipulating it to suit our needs, or owning it as property. Nor does it mean projecting our psyches on the world’s screen. Rather, truth involves entering a relationship with someone or something genuinely other than us, but with whom we are intimately bound. Truth contains the image we are seeking – the image of community in which we were first created, the image of relatedness between knower and known that certain philosophers of science now affirm.”
Might it be that an intimacy with truth could shape our point of view to something that is closer to View? And if so, wouldn’t that relationship take into account all that makes up who we are, all the things that shaped the point from where stand while beckoning us into so much more?
”‘Truth is personal’ means not only that the knower’s person becomes part of the equation, but that the personhood of the known enters the relation as well. The known seeks to know me even as I seek to know it; such is the logic of love.” - Palmer
But ultimately that means that any point of view is just that - a Point of view. And I hear Madeline L’Engle’s words, “We have a point of view. God has view.” Points of View might be what we like to call “your truth” or “my truth. What if there is a space wherein things aren't relative or defined by points of view?
I would want to become comfortable with that space regardless of the risk to my point of view. It would seem that space would allow me to see the Truth in your point of view, regardless of how I feel.
And then I stumble across these words from Parker Palmer:
”So truth has nothing to do with manufacturing a world, keeping it at a distance, manipulating it to suit our needs, or owning it as property. Nor does it mean projecting our psyches on the world’s screen. Rather, truth involves entering a relationship with someone or something genuinely other than us, but with whom we are intimately bound. Truth contains the image we are seeking – the image of community in which we were first created, the image of relatedness between knower and known that certain philosophers of science now affirm.”
Might it be that an intimacy with truth could shape our point of view to something that is closer to View? And if so, wouldn’t that relationship take into account all that makes up who we are, all the things that shaped the point from where stand while beckoning us into so much more?
”‘Truth is personal’ means not only that the knower’s person becomes part of the equation, but that the personhood of the known enters the relation as well. The known seeks to know me even as I seek to know it; such is the logic of love.” - Palmer