Why always the truth?

“Write what you know”, a Mark Twain’s piece of advise that won’t be followed in this post. As this is a glimpse of the mini journey in my head about the truth of what I know.

We grow believing our bag of knowledge is getting heavier by our day-to-day exposure to reality. It grows full of 
information that is not necessarily true. Our character, our attitude, our relationships, our dreams, and our everything is based upon the contents of our bags. So shouldn’t we insure we are beholders of true information? I used to think we “must” rather than “should” know the truth about everything, but not anymore.

A declaration I must make before you proceed reading. I exclude religion and science from my questioning in this post. As the first is the only topic I approve its truth wholeheartedly & logically. However, I shall allow myself to keep learning & discovering more about it. Science on the other hand must be built upon logically proven facts; therefore, it got excluded as well.

Questioning is one of our characteristics as humans. We start asking about details we can’t comprehend from early ages in order to reach a satisfying answer, and not necessarily the truth. Have you doubted in your childhood the source of your father’s forehead scar, if it really was the result of his fight with a lion? Would you describe it as a smart answer that fed our curious spirits and perfected our parent’s image? Or a lie that distracted us from knowing it was the result of a stair fall?  I find it a simple yet brilliant answer that holds the ability to turn off the child’d flame of curiosity, and nourish his/her imagination.

“There are no facts, only interpretations” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Now defining it, what makes any information part of the truth? Does it need to be scientifically proven, ethically agreed upon, or simply felt? If what we know is based on our feelings, conclusions and knowledge, and our knowledge holds the probability of being falsified, then what we know might be falsified as well. Hence, the truth might not be what we know. And if that is true, then what is the truth?

After questioning the truth about truth, let’s assume it is definable according to all the three listed criteria. Are we created with the ability to distinguish which truth we must seek, and which we must not? Or do we hold the necessary factors that make us able to digest it? Do our truths flow in the same river? Or each has his/her own that might or might not collide with the others’. Does it hold more than what our limited minds can comprehend?

Why are we accustomed to ask about the truth in everything? Do we really believe the truth is always redeeming?

I wonder if our truth cravings stem from a need or mere desire. Do I need the truth? Or do I want to know the truth? For I would excuse the first, but never the latter. I used to search for the truth about everything, everyone, all the time until I couldn’t take it anymore. Accepting some facts the truth beholds can be a very dreadful challenge. The hardest part lays in standing helplessly in front of what you would do anything to change.

Aren’t we supposed to seek what makes us feel and live better? What if it isn’t the truth? What if the truth you are running after won’t do you any good? What if the exact opposite will set us free? Do you think we’ll choose to delude ourselves and go with it? Or are we entitled to be wanderers throughout our lives.

Tricking ourselves is important to maintain a balanced life. Let us call it a healthily comforting delusion. I agree we need part of the truth to protect our living from evaporating under the umbrella of sheer ignorance. The challenge here is to set the border where you must not cross. And I truly believe you need to cross it more than once in order to have its exact coordinates.

Large doses of ignorance are highly needed in the life of each and every one of us. Otherwise, we’ll be buried in our mental misfortunes.

After bringing to light my questions and doubts, the only thing I’m sure of is the fact that I’ll never be able to know the exact truth about anything.
What makes me happy shall be my truth in this world.

My last question is now directed towards you my beloved reader:

Why always the truth?