An Elusive Truth Continues

Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?  Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others … Psalm 15:1-3

Is there an absolute truth?

I believe so, but I also believe it is beyond us to ever know positively what the absolute truth of a matter actually is. As St. Paul puts it, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

Integrity demands we be as honest with one another as we can, but we also know the truth will be bent or skewed by many things. We shade the truth by the words we use (I borrowed the car, vs. I stole the car); or the way we say something (softly, especially if we want something in return). We hide parts of the truth when we are fearful, when we’re not sure the other person is prepared to hear what we have to say, or when we’re not sure we are prepared to deal with the fall-out that will result from what we have to say.

What’s important to me is not that we have access to the unvarnished truth, as if there is such a thing. Likewise, I don’t think we should go through life assuming that everything is relative, so we can do whatever we like and rationalize that bad behavior isn’t so bad because there are worse things one can always do. Instead, I think it is best to approach life with integrity and humility, and leave the unvarnished truth to God (who is the Way, Truth, and Life).

Humility requires us to recognize that, as human beings, we are frail and fallible; we make mistakes; and sometimes our best intentions wreak the greatest havoc. Humility also requires us to realize we were created in the image of God, and as such, we can strive to do everything necessary to do things right, and to make things right when we have failed or fallen. As others have said, humility is being “right sized” – we are neither God, nor are we junk.

Integrity speaks to our capacity to be honest with ourselves and with others. It is to take full ownership of what we think and feel, and to accept that our life is what it is, and our experiences help shape who we are.

Our chief purpose in life is to be true to ourselves (To thine own self be true – Polonius), honest with everyone with whom we interact (Dare to be honest and fear no labor – Robert Burns), and upright with God (What does the Lord require, but for you to be just, merciful, and to walk humbly with him – Micah).

Sometimes we are so busy watching what others are doing we fail to see where we are failing. As a Rabbi once put it (I paraphrase), we “see the speck in our brother’s eye, but miss the log in our own.”

Perhaps it is time to start asking God how each of us might be a better person. If we are honest with God about our desire to improve, I’ve no doubt that would be a job God would be willing to tackle; and if any of us improves, the world will be just that much better.

At least that’s what I think in this, our world.