First of all we have, what is truth to me? Well
for my definition of truth we can turn right to Mr. Webster and see that he
says, that truth is:
“sincerity or honesty”
To me truth is exactly what
you think or how you feel. Truth to me is not veiled by anything, making the
real truth either more positive or negative. Truth is simply what’s on your
mind, exactly how you feel, its just plain and simple and right down to the
point. How do you arrive at my kind of truth? We’ll it’s simple: as stated
before, you simply tell how you feel, being both honest and sincere.
Now the
tougher part, how is truth verified? Truth is verified by whether it’s honest
and sincere by who, or where it came from. This means for example, is a person
telling you really that they like your new haircut, or they just saying “yes”
they do, to avoid a possibly touchy moment. Truth can only be verified by
whether or not it was genuine and from the heart.
This test of verification
is the only test to see whether or not the “truth” was genuine. How else could
something be true, if where it came from was not genuine itself? To wrap it all
up, truth is simply whether or not a person is saying what is at the bottom of
their heart or not.
Now we move onto, is truth all good, like Plato
believes, or can some truth be bad, evil and ugly? I personally feel that,
unlike Plato, truth can be all good, bad, evil and ugly. For instance again with
the haircut, you could honestly tell someone their hair cut is hideous. But is
that good truth? To me that’s not a “good truth”. So what is a “good truth”
then? A “good truth” to me is one that helps a person, supports a person, or
does anything else to a person in a positive way. So then you may ask what are
the “bad, evil, and ugly truths”? Well those are the exact opposite of the “good
truths”, they are ones that will negatively effect a person. In the end though,
a “bad truth” may be the best for the person. For example, you may have to tell
someone the truth even if it may hurt their feelings at first, but as long as
that truth is honest, sincere and from the bottom of your heart, then it’s the
honest (or genuine) truth for that situation.
Now lets look at some of
Plato’s ideas of truth from “Allegory of The Cave”. Let’s start by looking at
Plato’s definition of what it takes to reach the genuine truth:
“And suppose
once more he is reluctantly dragged up a steep and rugged ascent, and held fast
until he is forced into the presence of the sun himself………”
I agree with
Plato on this issue. That to reach the genuine truth, the ascent, or journey it
will take, may not be an easy one. And likely as in “Allegory of the Cave” you
have to be dragged up that ascent, and forced to see the genuine truth (or the
sun). Now I don’t mean you’ll have to be physically made to see or tell the
genuine truth, but it may take other people coaching you or pushing you along
the way, to see that genuine truth.
Next Plato goes on to describe what it
is like when you first see the genuine truth (or the sun):
“…….is he not
likely to be pained and irritated? When he approached the light his eyes will be
dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called
realities……”
Once again I agree with Plato on this fact too. When you first
see the genuine truth, it may hurt you and dazzle you, just as the morning sun
beaming trough your windows may dazzle you, when you first wake up in the
morning. The genuine truth will take some getting used to, you’ll have to
accommodate to not being in the dark anymore. You now have to adjust yourself to
being in the light, of a whole new world, once you have entered the genuine
truth.
The biggest point of Plato’s I don’t agree with is that of that:
“Plato’s concept of truth is an absolute one, regardless of the observer.”
I don’t agree that there is only one truth, and that, that truth is the
genuine truth. I believe that each of us have our own genuine truth inside of
ourselves. It just depends on whether or not we use that genuine truth, which
lies within each and every one of us.
In conclusion I have defined what my
definition of truth is:
“One that sincere and honest, one that comes from
the heart, whether good, bad or evil, as long as its honest, sincere, and
genuine, then its your own truth.”
I have also shared what aspects of
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” I agree with, and the one I don’t agree with. But
remember: Truth is only what it means to one person, and only you know what
truth means to you.