[Re-Post] The Nature of Truth: Absolute Truth vs Perceptual Truth
Inward Journey Episode 4 (April 2023)
Greetings! This is the 4th post of Inward Journey Video Podcast on Substack, a re-post of the Podcast’s Episode 4 (originally posted on YouTube back in April 2023) along with a written transcript, so that you can choose to watch/listen or just read the content of the podcast. Aside from new episodes that are coming in the future starting from Episode 7 (not sure when, but hopefully soon!), all past 6 episodes will also be re-posted here as well with transcripts. Once again, you need to subscribe to this sub-stack to receive updates even you have already subscribed to Kekal Updates + Messages, because it has a separate subscribers list. Please subscribe below if you are interested with Inward Journey podcast. You can also watch/listen/read 3 previous posts as well on Substack. Thank You!
Please see below to watch/listen to Inward Journey Episode 4 with the transcript provided. If you’re on Instagram, you can also check out Inward Journey IG Profile @inwardjourney23. Inward Journey Podcast series is written by Jeff on behalf of
as the author of this podcast.INWARD JOURNEY – Episode 4
Originally published in April 2023
We cannot claim to have the Absolute Truth because we live in the kind of reality that is perceptual-based. We can only seek the truth based on our perceptual limitations. But the more we seek, and the more we learn from other people’s perspectives and the reasons why they perceive truth that way, only then, the bigger picture of the Absolute Truth would gradually appear in front of us.
The Nature of Truth: Absolute Truth vs Perceptual Truth
When we talk about truth, in small “t”, we would acknowledge that as something that is actual to us as the observer. Take this as an example: “I saw my neighbour run around naked in his yard last night”, and I accept it as the truth to me, according to my memory based on what I saw. So when a family member confronted what I saw, like “Ah, you might have taken too much beer”, I would defend it because I really saw it soberly, so my reply would be like “No, I wasn’t drunk at all. I swear, I really saw it.” Perceptual truth is like this: something that is perceived by the observer. Basically, this kind of truth is only based on perception and nothing else, and “what I saw is true” becomes the only proof to defend my perception. Perceptual truth is relative to the one who perceives it, it could have some levels of distortions, because the mind may play “tricks”, depending to our conditions that would influence the way we perceive things.
There is another Truth, which is the Absolute Truth. Normally we would have written it in the capital-letter “T”. This kind of Truth is immutable or unchangeable, or we can call it as the “Truth as-it-is”. It stays there, not influenced by any human perceptions. We can never claim as knowing the Absolute Truth, because of our limited perceptions. Here’s the best example: Let’s say the Absolute Truth is an elephant. Just an example. A person, while blindfolded, would touch the elephant’s trunk and perceives the elephant based on what he touches. Another person would touch the elephant’s ear, and perceives the elephant based on what she touches. These 2 persons can claim two different “versions” of what the truth is. The elephant stays the same, it didn’t shape-shift, because it has both ears and a trunk. It is only our perceptual limitation that makes one’s truth to be “different” than the other’s. Our perceptual limitation creates a perspective, a point of view so to speak that is unique to us. It points to the same truth, only from a different angle. The one who claims to know the elephant only based on the shape of the trunk doesn’t have a lesser truth than the one who knows it from the shape of an ear. The entire elephant as the Absolute Truth in this case, cannot be claimed by any of these 2 persons, because of the limitations from what they would process it. We can only take truth and claim it as our own. The notion that “my own truth may be different than your own truth, but we may both share the same truth nonetheless.” is the right attitude to see the truth. In this case, we would continue to seek truth from others’ perspectives based on what they perceive. It may lead to the bigger picture, or closer to the Absolute Truth, because, still using the elephant example, both persons can now know the elephant as having both ears and a trunk and take both perspectives as a shared truth. This is the main reason why, in our reality which is perceptual, we must seek the truth, because the more we seek, the more we would understand it from other people’s perspectives or angles, and we would get the bigger picture of that truth.
When the claimed truth is being transmitted, or told from person to person, naturally it carries some levels of distortions. This type of transmission is regularly called “dogma” or “propaganda”. Anything that is being told as opposed to being sought and perceived through experience in the first place, would carry a far more dangerous outcome. The catch is, because it may carry the opposite of truth, called lie. If a lie is intentionally created to suppress the truth or to lead people astray because it drives them away from the Absolute Truth, then it becomes a falsehood. So many people fall from this method, and follow the falsehood, maybe because of their fear, or just a blind acceptance to such information disguised as truth. This is why dogma and propaganda are equally hostile to the truth-seeking process. Using the similar elephant example, it would be like this: Someone came to tell you that the elephant lives in the water and it has a fin and 8 tentacles. Or, someone would lead you, blindfolded, to a horse, and as you touch the mane of the horse, he would tell you that it is the elephant. You would falsely perceive that the elephant has a mane, and when you claim that as the truth, then you take a lie as truth. This is why if we only accept what is being told as the truth, then it is similar to how a dogma or propaganda is being transmitted. The benefit is only for the people who fabricate and transmit that information in the first place, as they have their agenda.
As a conclusion, the way we, as human, to accept truth is all perceptual. I repeat: it is all perceptual. It is based on processes inputted from our senses: what we see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. We cannot claim to have the Absolute Truth because we live in the kind of reality that is perceptual-based. We can only seek the truth based on our perceptual limitations. But the more we seek, and the more we learn from other people’s perspectives and the reasons why they perceive truth that way, only then, the bigger picture of the Absolute Truth would gradually appear in front of us. Because the Absolute Truth stays as it is, immutable, we don’t need to worry if what we believe as the truth would collapse, especially if that “kind” of truth was being transmitted through dogma and propaganda. It is not the Absolute Truth itself that is changed, it is just our previously claimed truth that falls apart. Please check past episodes of Inward Journey that discussed our perceptual reality, the illusory nature of our reality.
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