What is truth?
Contemporary culture has given the rights to answering that question to the scientist. Philosophers have shot themselves in the foot by ushering the era of Moral Relativism and theologians are scrambling to keep God present in this world when science seems so keen on ousting Him. But the masses have their power, and in an interesting turn, it seems science has become the new opiate. iPods, cell phones, medicine, nanotechnology and the like provide for all humans need (and a whole lot more). In effect, science has become the new religion.
However, it is only a religion of this world. The entire field of study is empirically based (or theories based off of empiricism), which demands quantifiable variables to measure, manipulate and monumentalize. The exact make-up of the human Genome is a notable project. Soon, we will know every intricate part of our own DNA, the very building blocks of life. However, as the common criticism goes, science cannot answer the all-important question of “Why?”. Why is the DNA as it is? Perhaps soon psychologists will be able to electrically induce any emotion they want in someone. This could be seen as a reduction of everything unknown into a series of stimuli and responses. However, there is no explanation there as to why a person will spend an entire lifetime with another person based off of that very stimulus. To understand how this world works, we can very well rely on science to provide a solid, consistent understanding. I would say that science can tell us what is true. It cannot tell us what truth is.
However, there are many of us that do not view this world as the only one. There are many of us in this world that feel that there is another, wholly (holy) different world. So to whom do we turn for explanations regarding this other world? And how do we even begin to reconcile this other world with the one science promulgates as the be-all end-all? One prevalent answer is what the religious and political right offer. Within the Bible lies answers for everything about both worlds because both are ruled over by the all-knowing Father Almighty. Creation, redemption, consummation. The story proffered is replete with a dramatic beginning, middle and end. And it is the most pervasive and public answer available. In fact, it is the only other model of answers one can seem to turn to in the face of science.
Yet, for myself, this other model is unsatisfactory as well. The neat, tidy box that is presented is just that: a box. To place myself within that internally consistent world seems the easiest way out, and the most right, because of the ability to explain away inconsistencies and inaccuracies. In fact, infallibility grants near immunity to outside influence rocking their Ark, their boat of salvation. But it is exactly because of that certainty of truth the box provides that many look with disdain upon conservative Christians (and then, by association, all Christians). The “close-minded” and “dogmatic” perspective on everything frustrates everyone else to no end, and so they turn to the only other model of the world that provides consistent answers: science.
And so you have the back and forth of modern-day humans. Either they worship God via the understanding of the Bible or they worship Science via the understanding of the experiment. The two are at odds because they, as many claim, cannot exist in harmony since one “disproves” the other and neither one can afford to be wrong.
But I have come to a different answer. It is not wholly of science, but is empirically based and does encompass this world. It is wholly of the Bible, but is spiritually based and it does encompass this other world. However, it is not an answer that will provide the satisfaction that the other two models offer. In fact, the answer I offer comes from experiencing the very human condition that makes up this world (science) and is directly related to the other (God). It is an answer that is designed to perpetuate science’s search for answers in this world, and to further the theologian’s quest to seek answers in God’s world as well. In fact, I believe it ties the two worlds together because the two worlds that heretofore have been seen as contradictory are actually complementary. Both provide answers.
Therefore, the answer that I am presenting is not an answer in the usual sense of the term. It is a frustrating answer that is actually happened upon by every person nearly every day. It is frustrating because it does not usher in an end, nor does it have an end to itself. It is not self-seeking. It is not self-perpetuating, though it is permanently perpetual. It is the answer I have always known, yet have always hated because of the crises it brings me in my faith and understanding in this world. But through it comes a deeper and more full understanding of myself, others and both worlds I experience. It is merely a return to the beginning that both worlds came from and developed out of though in dynamically different ways. This answer, I feel, will help most people, and frustrate most people, by pushing them to search more deeply, more broadly and more frequently. It demands recognition of our collective, subjective experience in worlds that objectively exist. The answer that seems counter-intuitive because of its simple circularity is:
What is truth?
