Truth is pointless

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You cannot eat truth, and if you could it probably wouldn't taste good.

Truth will never pleasure you in the same way as a member of the attractive sex could.

Truth has no necessary relationship to happiness, and some have even implied that it stands against happiness.

Truth is not soft or warm, in fact, it has no physical characteristics by virtue of it being a non-physical entity.

Truth is sometimes considered unknown, in which case, everything I said could be wrong and truth is a delicious, edible organism of warm, soft happiness.

However, I don't care that truth is a delicious, edible organism of warm, soft happiness, and that is because I am on a debate forum, and people on a debate forum are as far away from truth as any conceivable being.

Ergo, let us debate nothing, and claim it is something.

At least believing that one is in possession of the truth is *quite* satisfying, deeply so.

...so thus we're making the argument that truth ultimately equates to faith in the end? Curious.


M.

Actually yes, I am very skeptical towards the claims made by various epistemologies on what is true. Part of this was also an overblown rant where I got to say the term "orgasm".

Interesting... does that then divide it into two elements - the innate essence of whether something is truth, and one's emotional connection to it? One difference could be observed is that in those more religious, the emotional attachment defines their sense of truth, whereas those more scientific rely on measurements of truth to define the bonds of their beliefs.

"We all have truths - are mine the same as yours?" Pontius Pilate, from Jesus Christ Superstar

The relative value of truth varies from person to person, and what defines truth to one person is inadequate proof to another... there is no distinct horizon on the surface of a person's methods to justify and analyze their existence.


M.

Yes, yes there is that division. Or at least there seems to be.

The Keats statement is no doubt very memorable but it is also very obvious to even the most lightheaded thinkers that it is total nonsense as there are very many truths that are extremely ugly and repulsive.

Here's my observation of people who "think" they want to know the "truth".

"I want to know the truth!"

"You want to know the truth? You can't handle the truth!"

Sand, state a truth that feels repulsive.

Here are two that occurred to me personally.

My son at the age of three was struck by a stupid driver and rendered quadriplegic for the remainder of his 33 three year life so that he had to spend the rest of his life paralyzed from the neck down on a respirator with frequent horrifying crises as to whether he would survive from pulmonary congestion or urinary blockages. Throughout the period of his life my wife and I had to rush to the hospital in panic in the early morning hours to administer hand pumping when his respirator ceased functioning properly. He was an exceptionally bright guy and his last words when his kidneys failed were "Save me!" and I had to sit by his bed and helplessly watch him die. He was born in Tennessee a US citizen and his own country would do nothing to help him. Only by the grace of President Kekkonen in Finland was he granted Finnish citizenship (since my wife is a Finn) to permit him to have whatever life he had. He was an exceptionally intelligent and wonderful guy and his death overshadows everything else in my life.

Currently my wife is suffering from bone cancer which has metastasized throughout her body and is totally bedridden in continuous pain and we are doing our best to help her but there isn't much we can do.

These things are true. They can in no way to be construed as beautiful by anyone with any compassion or intellect whatsoever.

The world currently and incessantly is full of people undergoing personal horrors equal to and worse than my own experiences. This is true and undeniable. To find these things beautiful in any way is a gross perversion of the concept of beauty.

Their suffering is ugly; their perseverance is beautiful, and is the truth of their existence. This is how I look at the life of my sister; I do not say this to cheapen your pain or experience. To quote from House (one of the televices I allow myself), or at least paraphrase - we all die, we cannot die with dignity... but we can live with it. And to me, that is beautiful.


M.

You are examining the wrong truths. My attitude and reactions are a different truth than the events themselves which have no redeeming characteristic at all.

Wrong truths? Now we really enter some treacherous waters... these events shape who we each are, whether good or bad. I weep for my sister's suffering, but am thankful for her life and what she gave me. Without those hurts, life would have been different... but there is no guarantee that it would have been better. Do they make sense, are they 'right' when measured by our self-centered view of the world? No, not at all. But things happen, beyond our control, and we endure as we are shaped by them. We can curse the event or cherish the person. I do not think one can do both - by cursing the event we take away the value inherent in creating the person we care about.


M.

You are totally confused. The horrors of my wife's and son's experiences are truths unto themselves and undeniably not beautiful. How I reacted may or may not be beautiful but it is totally separate and the result of my personal character which was formed well before the events described and is not the result of those events. It is a separate truth and must be considered as such.

The fact that my nephew is now gone has definitely altered my perception of what personal meaning of truth means to each person.

Truth is, I want him back but there's just no way that's going to happen.

Last edited by MissConstrue on 24 Mar 2009, 1:51 am, edited 1 time in total.