Truth

Mathematicians speak of statements being true or false. If we take mathematics to be merely a logical language game, then it may be permissible to use the term “true” in this manner. However, there is a problem with mathematics: how can anything that is proven mathematically be applied to reality? Some kind of translation step is required. But for this translation to be possible, there will at some point need to be an intuitive leap. The physicist who aims to apply mathematics to nature, will already need to know the result before they can apply it.

The way in which truths about the world is known is different from the way truth about mathematical statements are known. And this is true not only of mathematics, but of all reality: no statement made in words (or some other language-like construct) can be true in itself. All things said must relate back to reality, and that requires a leap of faith. Language can be used for pointing at reality, but not for describing it. In other words, that which is really true cannot be literally true, and that which is merely literally true is not really true.

What is true in reality is that which is most beautiful, most real, and most sacred. It is an innate property of some objects (including physical objects, thoughts, feelings, unseen forces, etc.), which gives rise to a particular feeling in the human soul. Truth can be sensed directly, like color or taste, although our brains may be imperfect at interpreting such phenomena. Myths are true stories about the world that are told in words by one human to another.1 Dreams are true stories told by the gods to the human soul in images and feelings when the soul is in a particular state. There are other means of getting access to true phenomena, like psychedelic drugs, meditation, or simply looking at the world. Some people seem to be more naturally more perceptive than others. Interpreting these phenomena may be much more difficult. Careless misinterpretations can lead to psychosis, especially by people who have been raised in materialist cultures.

See also 

  1. See also Mircea Eliade (1957), The sacred and the profane. ↩