Truth: Making Mistakes #5 appears today.
The Comfort Mistake
It seems to me that the search for truth often times is a search to justify one’s comforts and prejudices. It ends at the most convenient location, in other words. That seems to me to be a mistake. If we want to be satisfied, truly satisfied, we have to pursue beyond both of those things.
Religious Truth
We have some good examples, not in the discovery of an absolute and final truth, but in the courage to continue the search. A number of religious leaders and congregations over the centuries showed great courage by walking the road of truth as far as they could. In many cases it turned out their truth wasn’t (and isn’t) accurate. It could even be seen as a mistake. But the best of them were sincere and committed to the journey.
Scientific Truth
Equally courageous were the scientists who dedicated their lives to walking that road of truth. Some were excommunicated, some were shunned, some were killed. But they knew the road they were on and were seeing it to the end. Just as in the religious journey, the scientific journey also had (and has) truths be discovered later to be inaccurate. It could even be seen as a mistake. But the best of them were also sincere and committed to the journey.
The Road of Truth
The truth is the road of truth demands effort. You can’t cruise down it in a BMW on cruise control. You can’t take a bus down it, or a train on the tracks next to it. You can’t fly over it. You have to walk it, explore it, commit to it. It’s a long journey that everyone has to take by themselves. You can stop and read, stop and sleep, stop and contemplate, but it would be a mistake to not get up again and start down the path. And the farther you go, the more you realize you need no facade, no fancy clothes, no money, no glass house. Just you naked in your search on the road of truth.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by the Buddha
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