You Can't Handle the Truth

As tomorrow is Easter, and Christianity has increasingly come under fire by documentary makers, other religions, myself, etc. I wanted to take a second to discuss the concept of truth and whether it can ever be found. Alfred North Whitehead, a British Mathematician who later in his career became an American philosopher states the following about truth:

“There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil.”

What does this mean? The way I interpret it is that the truth in any situation can never truly be found and it is in the pursuit of the truth that all devilish influences occur. The idea that one can ever truly know the truth about any thing is in and of itself an egotistical venture, presuming that the person doing the research is bestowed with the requisite wisdom to discern the facts from the circumstances presented (the known) and the circumstances not presented (the unknown).

Note that I am also separating the truth from facts. I do not think that the facts of a situation take all facets of said situation into account, and therefore cannot be considered the truth in and of themselves.

So this Easter try not to think about whether or not it could be true that the circumstances surrounding the story of the Resurrection actually occured. Just enjoy the concept of rebirth and apply it to your own life.

Feel free to contribute your thoughts on Easter, Christianity, or the nature of the truth in the comments section.

Much love from The Year of the Pig.