The Search for Truth

This search for truth in documenting reality takes on four aspects, and they have to do with the concepts Jesus touches on in his exchange with Pontius Pilot, and part of the reason why the author of John needed to write it down. We might think of these aspects as four ways of getting at the truth. First, the truth about events or things that happen in the world. We might call this testimony. Then there is the truth about ourselves, or the truth about who we are deep down. We might call this confession. Additionally there is the truth about how we feel on this journey through life, the truth about our emotions. We might think of this in terms of celebration (in a positive sense) and mourning or lament (in a negative sense). Finally, there is the poetic or philosophical truth about the world itself, the creation in which we all find ourselves living. We might call this investigation, the search for wisdom or illumination. In each of these areas, (testimony, confession, celebration/lament and investigation) we are constantly presented with the tendency, in one way or another, for that truth to be subverted or suppressed, whether it be in the form of alternate histories (testimony), the propensity for self deception (confession), the fact that we often go through life out of touch with our true emotions (celebration/lament), and the fact that we so often miss or fail to appreciate the incredible reality that is right in front of us (investigation).