Thursday

So today in my philosophy class, we were talking about truth.  First we defined truth, and then we defined time.  And we came to the discovery that truth cannot exist within the economy of time.  Where we all reside.

Being myself, I have some trouble with the concept of time anyway.  But tell me time is finite, and then that truth doesn’t exist … well, I was having a bit of a panic attack.  It’s not like my professor was just feeding us this.  I was a pretty active participant in the conversation, and at one point, when he was talking about how time and truth are different (truth is absolute, consistent, and timeless, while time is a process of becoming, with no absolutes), when I asked, “But doesn’t truth have to occur within time?”.   And therein lies the problem.  Time is a process while truth is a product.  And to label things is to put them into boxes.  Calling the earth Gaia is giving it many more, changeable characteristics than calling it the Earth.  We have a definite idea of what the Earth is, but Gaia is always changing and doing things we would not expect.  It is a question of object versus subject.

The world always operates in appearances.  It’s the difference between seeing and being.  Even if you lived with someone for 20 years, would you know them?  Do you know yourself?  Not really, because you always do things that surprise you.  All worlds are constructed worlds.

I have seen this often in relationships.  As soon as I think I know how my relationship works with someone, be it my parents or friends, it changes.  Or I get in a pattern with someone, and then it changes, and I am thrown off.  I am learning to adapt to these changes because they are a part of life.  But thinking someone is a great friend is not a truth.  It is a permeable, changeable construction of your life.  You, other people, everyone’s situation is constantly in motion.  There is no “truth”.  And sometimes that scares me.

Em