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Catching a Cloud

What is Truth? A Metaphysical Perspective

By Renee RankePublished 2 years ago 10 min read
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Image by LevaNevsky from Pixabay

We are in a unique time in history when it seems like everyone is struggling with trying to figure out what is true and what isn’t true.

Truth is such an interesting concept, isn’t it?

Truth, what is truth?

Merriam-Webster defines truth as “the body of real things, events, and facts”; “the state of being the case”; “the property of being in accord with fact or reality”...okay, there are many other definitions that they give, but I think that is enough.

Although you know it’s kind of ironic to look for a definition to explain truth; or for a way to define anything, actually. Who is this Merriam Webster and who decided what the ‘true’ definition of anything that we look up is?

Merriam-Webster does have another definition for truth. One that they label as an archaic definition that was utilized before the 12th century. And that definition of truth is “fidelity, constancy”. Truth is fidelity and constancy; being faithful and accurate and constant and unchanging

I find that ‘archaic’ definition the most interesting because I am not sure that we often see a lot of truth that remains faithful, constant, and unchanging. As a matter of fact, what I have experienced, of what we call ‘truth’, is more like looking at the clouds and trying to ascertain a meaning from them. In my metaphysical world reading the clouds is called aeromancy. This type of divination usually tells us more about ourselves. Why do I see a bear when you see an elephant? Oh, maybe you are right. It is an elephant!

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem ‘Fancy in Nubibus, Or the Poet in the Clouds’ states, “to make the shifting clouds be what you please, or let the easily persuaded eyes own each quaint likeness issuing from the mould of a friend’s fancy”.

Truth is like those shifting clouds. We each see something different, or we allow ourselves to be persuaded to see what someone else has told us that they see.

Like clouds, truth comes in many forms. There are physical or scientific truths; those truths that explain things in our physical world. There are more ethereal truths..spiritual truths, personal truths. Those beliefs that we hold inside.

Let’s start with physical truth, because you can view that truth, right? Physical or scientific truths are based on clear observations of physical reality. They are not an opinion, but instead are based on observed phenomena in a way that can be repeated and tested.

But, does observing something make it true?

When I go to bed at night, I sleep on the left side of my bed. As I lie in my bed, I can observe the fact that I am sleeping on the left side. But if I get up and stand at the foot of my bed and look at the spot that I sleep in, it is now the right side of my bed.

If I sit on my kitchen floor and draw the number nine on the floor in front of me with a marker and you walk in and stand in front of me, you will see the number six.

If truth is an observed phenomena that I can keep repeating, that works for my examples.

Every time I lie in my bed, I am lying on the lefthand side….but I can also repeatedly stand at the foot of my bed, and then the side that I am lying on is the righthand side. So even physical truth depends on perspective.

What is truth?

Let’s try and find a more scientific perspective. How about looking at gravity?

Greek philosopher Aristotle, in the 4th century BC, theorized that objects moved towards their ‘natural place’ and fell proportionately to their weight. 2,000 years later, Galileo found that objects fell with the same acceleration rate regardless of their weight. Sir Isaac Newton, described gravity as an ever present force, the more mass an object has the stronger the force, and the further objects are away from each other, the more the force weakens. In 1915, Albert Einstein came up with his theory of general relativity and stated that space was affected by the objects in it, that a mass can warp, bend and change space. Objects with more mass bend the fabric of space and time more and push other objects towards them.

So, Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, and Einstein all had differing understandings about the truth of gravitation. Theories. Their own truths.

And most of us, well we don’t really study gravity…so we listen to the most common or widely accepted theory and treat it as truth. And in five years, or ten years, or twenty years, or a hundred years…someone may come up with a different truth about gravity. Or someone else may discover something that totally changes our understanding of gravity.

What is truth?

Image by R. Javier from Pixabay

Let’s take a look at mathematics maybe we can find truth there.

Mathematics, by the way always my weakest subject in school…closely followed by science...so I am not going to explain these theories well.

The Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Ratio, seem to explain many things in the world around us. The Golden Ratio, an irrational number equal to approximately 1.618 is reflected in the proportions of the human body, animals, plants, atoms, DNA, sacred texts, and ancient art and architecture. The Fibonacci Sequence generated by the Fibonacci numbers, is a spiral where each number is created by adding together the two numbers preceding it in the sequence. And apparently, every number in the Fibonacci Sequence perfectly reflects the Golden Ratio. Things like the galaxy, pinecones, sunflowers, seashells, beehives, and hurricanes all appear to reflect this sequence.

So what does this mean? Does it mean that the universe was created with a calculator or a compass? Well, I don’t really know to be honest.

But, I was also able to find articles that talked about the fact that this Golden Ratio and Fibonacci Sequence are not really found in everything that we think they are. Those nay-saying articles state that there is a bit of a myth to these sequences and although they are found in some of the places that we think they are; they aren’t necessarily everywhere in nature. Sometimes the correlation to the sequence is just a coincidence.

What is truth?

Alright let’s look at truth from a spiritual perspective. This is much more difficult isn’t it?…and I thought science and math were hard!

There are so many different beliefs and can we call a belief a truth?

Does everyone believe that we are eternal? That life continues after we leave these bodies?

Nope. There are many people whose truth is that this is all there is. They believe that there is nothing after this life.

Does everyone believe that there is an Infinite Intelligence? A God?

Nope. Again, there are people who do not accept or believe in the existence of a deity or deities. And for those of us who do believe in a source, many of us have different versions of that supreme being.

When I was a child in Catholic School, although taught about the Catholic version of God, I somehow knew that my God was going to be whatever God someone believed in when they got to the ‘pearly gates’. My God would be Allah, or Shiva, or Yahweh, or Satnam, or Kami.

Because I believed it, does that make it true? Again, I really don’t know.

What is Truth?

Let’s look at my original examples for physical truths. I can’t really say if it is true that I am sleeping on the left side of my bed...but I can say that it is true that I am sleeping in a bed.

I can’t really say what the number is that I drew on the floor...I thought that I was drawing a nine, but if someone else is reading it as a six, then maybe I didn’t truly draw a nine. But I can say that it is true that I drew a number on my floor.

Back to our talk about gravity. Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, and Einstein each believed their own truth to explain gravity. Would Einstein’s theory of relativity have come to be if it hadn’t been for those who came before him? Each theory about gravity helped contribute to the next version that would come after it..all trying to explain a force that keeps us from floating off into space and keeps the planets aligned and not colliding with each other. That force is a truth.

I don’t know what the Golden Ratio or the Fibonacci sequence truly mean. They could be random coincidences, they could be proof of infinite intelligence. I don’t really know, but I do know that the underlying truth is that, whether or not we realize it, these sequences have contributed to how we perceive universal beauty, both natural and manmade.

And for spiritual truth?

Well as a child I was always aware that there was an underlying truth to the concept of God...one that could be interpreted in several different ways. Even to the belief that there is no supreme deity and that we are all that there is.

But spiritual truths are not observable, they are not repeatable. So how can anyone ever tell someone else that their truth is wrong?

Speaking of God reminds me of when I finally told my parents about this spiritual journey that I am on. It took me two years before I sat down with my Catholic conservative parents to tell them that I was in the midst of a spiritual awakening and was doing work as a psychic medium. And when I did, I was most concerned about how my very conservative, Catholic, father was going to react.

He sat listening to me quietly and when I had finished he looked at me and said, “let me ask you a question, is God a man or a woman?”. Well I was a little flamboozled...that was probably the last thing that I expected to come out of his mouth. I don’t even really remember what I answered…something about both maybe…anyway he looked at me and said “wrong God is neither. We cannot explain what God is. God is a concept that is too great for us to understand”.

And maybe my father unwittingly gave me the answer to what Truth is.

Maybe here in this reality, this dimension, this time and place...we cannot really understand Truth. Maybe right now, Truth is a concept that is too great for us to understand.

But we continue to search for it. We look for explanations, for clues, for hints. We try to make sense of everything around us through science, through math, through faith, through mythology. And the more that we learn, the more questions that we have.

Truth is like a cloud. It continues to change depending on where we are standing and what we are expecting to see. Our perspective can change a nine to a six or the right to the left.

Image by Vinson Tan ( 楊 祖 武 ) from Pixabay

Let me give you one last example. The other day I was sitting outside and spotted a yellow bird perched in a tree limb. The brilliant yellow color brought my such a simple and complete joy as I watched it.

And watched it.

And watched it.

Wait it still hadn’t moved, so I walked over to look at it more closely. It turns out that brilliant yellow bird that brought me joy was actually a brilliant yellow leaf in the tree.

The underlying Truth was that something had brought me joy. Did it matter whether I believed that a leaf was a bird? Or is what mattered the Truth that I had discovered a wave of joy?

Maybe what we really need to understand is that what matters about Truth is the underlying principle, not the smaller perspectives that we uncover to lead us to that Truth. Instead of allowing ourselves just to see what we think is in front of us, it is time to look from another perspective. Knowing that all of those truths are shifting clouds seen from an individual perspective and leading us towards a larger more complete Truth.

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About the Creator

Renee Ranke

I am a reborn writer (funny since the name Renee means 'reborn'). On my mystical journey, I have rediscovered, in writing, a long-lost love and a way to strengthen my connection to my own divinity.

ReneeRanke.com

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