That’s a long question.
While we are not going to attempt to solve this question here I am going to attempt to bring up some questions. Questions are pretty neat.
I think when I create art (and blog posts...) I strive to be correct, and rarely do I strive for truth.
Let’s throw out some definitions so that this is less confusing.
“truth” what is 100% real, perhaps "out there" and never fully understood by human minds.
“correct” what is the right answer, whether politically correct at a certain time, or a college degree understating of how the human mind works over a high school diploma with one science class.
“correct” what is the right answer, whether politically correct at a certain time, or a college degree understating of how the human mind works over a high school diploma with one science class.
I think I often look at the word truth and think about a true/false test. It is correct or it is not.
You are reading this blog post T/F
You are not skydiving right now T/F
You are not a penguin T/F
The answers (unless you are a skydiving penguin, who is having someone read this to you) are all marked T for true. So that means the answers are all correct. Does this mean they are all true?
You are reading this blog post T/F
You are not skydiving right now T/F
You are not a penguin T/F
The answers (unless you are a skydiving penguin, who is having someone read this to you) are all marked T for true. So that means the answers are all correct. Does this mean they are all true?
(Ha! All good tests have trick questions like this!) Let's continue.
Women should not vote T/F
Slavery is biblical, therefore permissible T/F
People who are different from you are lesser T/F
How would you answer these questions? At one point they were all considered true (and in some cases people may still consider them true), but true here simply means correct at a certain point in time. As we (I guess here we means all of humanity) grow as a people we all get the chance to discover and learn. There are many reasons people have changed their minds on things, but just because they were considered true then does that mean “truth” has changed? No, I think that we are still learning truth, and “correct” has changed.
Let’s take an example from my life. Because that is fun.
When I was 16 I wrote a worship song, multiple actually, they all sounded like crap. Not only because they were some of the first songs I recorded (I knew 4 chords and did not know how to strum), but because now I know that the heart behind them was looking for fame and they were not written as actual worship (that's a whole other blog post). I used phrases in popular songs and catchy rhymes, but none of the things I had written actually spoke to what I was dealing with when I wrote them.
“truth” what is 100% real, perhaps "out there" and never fully understood by human minds.
And “correct” what is the right answer at a certain point in time with a certain amount of information.
Women should not vote T/F
Slavery is biblical, therefore permissible T/F
People who are different from you are lesser T/F
How would you answer these questions? At one point they were all considered true (and in some cases people may still consider them true), but true here simply means correct at a certain point in time. As we (I guess here we means all of humanity) grow as a people we all get the chance to discover and learn. There are many reasons people have changed their minds on things, but just because they were considered true then does that mean “truth” has changed? No, I think that we are still learning truth, and “correct” has changed.
Let’s take an example from my life. Because that is fun.
When I was 16 I wrote a worship song, multiple actually, they all sounded like crap. Not only because they were some of the first songs I recorded (I knew 4 chords and did not know how to strum), but because now I know that the heart behind them was looking for fame and they were not written as actual worship (that's a whole other blog post). I used phrases in popular songs and catchy rhymes, but none of the things I had written actually spoke to what I was dealing with when I wrote them.
“truth” what is 100% real, perhaps "out there" and never fully understood by human minds.
And “correct” what is the right answer at a certain point in time with a certain amount of information.
Those worship songs I wrote were a limited form of "truth", but perhaps not “correct" by my understanding now. On the “correct” scale they were written by a 16 year old who was stuck in one world where life was easy(ish) and her understanding of God very limited, but on the scale of “truth” they were written by a 16 year old who was stuck in one world with those same things still affecting her songs. The 16 year old was living life and did not know how to convey how she felt through song (and perhaps did not know what she was feeling because others told her what she should feel), she was living life but did not know as much as her 21 year old self.
In the same way now I am trapped by trying to create things that are correct and not things that are true. I want to skip ahead to finding what is correct, which leaves me in fear of making something I will regret later if it was found out wrong.
It sort of reminds me of the debates of whether to keep the memorials of the American Civil War (are they still being debated? Perhaps I'm behind on popular news...) On one hand the memorials are correct thinking of the times, but as a nation (mostly) we know some of the memorials made in those times are not true. So like my old songs were really gross to listen to, it’s hard to think that we keep up memorials of events and ideas that are really gross to remember. And it’s worse when the “gross” is devaluing human life and not simply cringing at a teenager's theology and guitar skills. I don’t want to be insensitive to either side of the argument (and I am not claiming to understand it fully), but I do want people to think beyond the ideas of keeping or taking down a memorial.
Can we keep things that were once considered correct in order to later convey the truth?
Or must we destroy the past in attempts to reconcile in the future?
If you like questions that seem more answerable:
In the same way now I am trapped by trying to create things that are correct and not things that are true. I want to skip ahead to finding what is correct, which leaves me in fear of making something I will regret later if it was found out wrong.
It sort of reminds me of the debates of whether to keep the memorials of the American Civil War (are they still being debated? Perhaps I'm behind on popular news...) On one hand the memorials are correct thinking of the times, but as a nation (mostly) we know some of the memorials made in those times are not true. So like my old songs were really gross to listen to, it’s hard to think that we keep up memorials of events and ideas that are really gross to remember. And it’s worse when the “gross” is devaluing human life and not simply cringing at a teenager's theology and guitar skills. I don’t want to be insensitive to either side of the argument (and I am not claiming to understand it fully), but I do want people to think beyond the ideas of keeping or taking down a memorial.
Can we keep things that were once considered correct in order to later convey the truth?
Or must we destroy the past in attempts to reconcile in the future?
If you like questions that seem more answerable:
What is something you changed your beliefs on?
How do you deal with the views and ideas that were once correct but you now think are wrong?
Or do you think it is always 100% bad to change what you first were taught and believed and how do you deal with people like me who seem to be making truth stretchy? ;)
How do you deal with the views and ideas that were once correct but you now think are wrong?
Or do you think it is always 100% bad to change what you first were taught and believed and how do you deal with people like me who seem to be making truth stretchy? ;)
Right now this is what I think is correct... But is it true? I guess we will find out someday... :P
No comments:
Post a Comment