Lately I have been thinking about the truth and about perspectives on truth. I think of the truth as facts. I think of the truth as unchangeable, I think of the truth as what is real and what I may or may not know. Let us use this elephant throwing red dirt on its back as an example of truth.
Perspectives are more the way that I view the world. This is based on my experience, my training, my upbringing. These are lenses through which I see the truth. They may also be the affected by my ability to see or understand things. If I can only see a tree, do I miss the forest? If only the forest, not the individual tree? If I can only see the ear, tail and front leg, do I know that these are portions of the same picture above. I don’t have the whole picture. The three zoomed in images are not even in the same order as the portions are in the original picture. In life, these perspectives incorporate both my conscious and my unconscious biases. These are things that affect my beliefs.
My beliefs are not necessarily the truth. My beliefs can be changed through thought, acquiring new information, talking with people, and even experiencing the world. In fact, our beliefs create ways for us to deal with the world. They help us to deal with pain and trauma, and prevent future pain and trauma from occurring again. Based on our previous experience we create mechanisms, thought processes, and mindsets to keep us from having to deal with hurtful things. But did you realize that by changing your experiences, you can physically change the neurological pathways in your brain? If you can experience different outcomes from expected situations, you can actually reprogram your brain. At the Townsend Institute, they call this having mismatching experiences. Like when you don’t speak up, because when you were a kid everyone told you to be quiet, or that you were dumb. If you can be motivated to try it, and get a different experience, like someone saying, “Wow, that was very thoughtful, thank you for sharing” you may find that those types of validating experiences will make it easier for you to move forward and changing your behavior…which is a result of your experience, your perceptions, and your beliefs.
So can we ever get to the full truth? Please tell me what you think!