Truth is Elusive

One of the nice things about being retired is the abundance of available time. Time to explore the things that silently pass us by in our obsession with managing the day to day toils of work, play, relationships, and other mundane contrivances of "modern man".

Ensconced in our "Me" world, and all that surviving it requires, we get mentally lazy. The result, in large measure, is a degree of unquieted faith. We blindly trust strangers to give us information and we gladly accept their conclusions ... all too often without question. It must be true ... because he/she is an academic scholar or a member of the clergy. Truth is blurred by our ignorance and our lack of time or interest in questioning or focusing for ourselves. I mean... why bother, when we can pick up a book or google it. Notwithstanding myriad opinions and contradicting discoveries, we have a tendency to go with whatever sounds best to us. It feels good ... hence it must be true.

I find that strange.

I also find it strange how easily the masses accept theories and hypotheses as fact; passing them along as reality. The result? Much of what we think we know is not factual at all. But it gives us a sense of intellect and knowing; and in this fast paced world that seems to be good enough. Besides... we're too busy to question or it's really not important.

The difficulty in all this is that once fiction morphs into fact it is almost impossible for the real truth to be accepted. Change history? How dare you!

For me ... a fact is something that is true - ALWAYS. Anything less is a theory, idea, or possibility. Give me evidence of a single instance of a fact straying from ALWAYS and it becomes a "sometimes occurrence" with new possible answers. Truth is elusive.