Truth & Context

As with most things, when I read something like last week's post about being gifted, I am primarily relating to it from my context.  Any observation like that may immediately resonate or it may not at all.  So, when it does, I'm nearly always connecting to what it is postulating because of something familiar about it to me.

But, I've noticed that sometimes when identifying who made the observation, something else is gets involved.  For example, if it is somebody I am familiar with, I may read the observation with an additional lens.  If I know the person (and I like the person or what they tend to say), I tend to take the observation with more merits of truth.  If I don't know the person or think the person is coming from a disposition I don't trust, I take the observation differently.  Sometimes, I can read an observation without knowing who made it and then it takes on a whole new shape when I discover who made it.

The truth is the truth, but our relationship with it is influenced by the context in which it is received.  And, it is often impacted by how that truth is announced or who announced it.

In this case, I didn't know who Marie Curie was.  I noticed the observation.  It struck me in some way.  But, I also did a little back-and-forth about its merits.  This, in retrospect, was primarily because of how what was being observed struck me (at face value, in my context).

But, then I looked up Marie Curie (quite a life story, by the way) and her observation took on a whole new shape, flavor, richness, and depth.

The truth was there and I was relating to it, but only from my own context.  When the context for it was expanded, my imagination for it did, too.

Sometimes I will read something and then edit my assessment of it because of who wrote it (or made the observation).  This is, perhaps, unavoidable.  And, the two go together because truth and context almost always do.  But, it made me realize that I can let the context (or the person making the observation) overshadow the observation itself.  This may not be the worst offense in the history of mankind, but it is important to recognize because we do this kind of thing all the time.

Especially in these times, where political context is often overshadowing nearly all semblance of truth:

“I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events. Why should NBC, or any other of the corrupt & dishonest media companies, be entitled to use the very valuable Airwaves of the USA, FREE? They are a true threat to Democracy and are, in fact, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! The Fake News Media should pay a big price for what they have done to our once great Country!”

-- Donald Trump, last weekend

We've heard this so many times now — the content hardly even registers...because of the person saying it.  On it's merits alone, it is not only disheartening, but quite scary because the only reason such mania persists is that there is still a ready audience for it...paying for it to continue.

Influenced as it is by our collective one, we all see things primarily through the lens of our own experience.  Because of this, we have to recognize how much of what believe is true is based on our experience of it.  That experience is both real and isolated (including those referenced above — they, too, have a story that influences their relationship with truth).  It is only when we can imagine the possibility that our experience of truth is not, in fact, the whole experience of it that we have opportunity to comprehend its more expansive nature, not to mention other people's relationship with it.

Without such perspective, we are numbingly vulnerable to the ideals (violence) reflected by Donald Trump above — the elimination of anything (and anyone?) that doesn't line up (if not, agree) with their experience.

I am grateful for what my context has afforded me, including the knowledge that while our humanity is shared in common, the details of my own experience are not universal.  My experience is real, but it is not the only one.  I have (the good) opportunity to wonder (even imagine) what part of the greater body of truth is understood by people from other contexts and experiences.

The universal brotherhood of man is our most precious possession, what there is of it.

-- Mark Twain