What is truth? Where is it located? Another model of truth... (Main Forum)

by Robert , Australia, Wednesday, August 22, 2012, 21:51 (272 days ago) @ Brian Coyne

Brian,
I think, we might be close to the same or at least on a similar page.

I was not suggesting (although what I wrote could read like that) that some sort of aggregation of the "truths" of the worlds' great religions might lead us to "the ultimate truth". All religions are ultimately human institutions with elements of the power games that people play . . . !

As you said . . .

In other words: the Ultimate Truth is NOT something that is the preserve of the aggregation all the world's religions; it is the preserve of the aggregation of all the world's individual persons.

I have reached a point where I think that religious "truths" would be better described as "ünderstandings". . . as an understanding changes and evolves on a personal level as one has experiences . . . encounters new ideas . . . reconsiders history etc etc etc.

I can say that impelling forward that evolution in thinking is one of the great gifts you provide to all of us through the pages of Catholica for very many of the participants.

I agree that that evolution in thinking is a personal thing, and that it happens to individuals . . .

And because of this, my thinking, at the moment, is that ultimate truth is not something that an individual person will ever arrive at during one lifetime.
So the idea of an infallible guru (in any religion or none) who can tell us what "the truth" is is just nonsense . . . life itself contradicts the whole concept.

But I do think that journey of "partial discovery" for each individual and, therefore, evolving thinking, is fascinating . . and is, I believe, a whole lifetime journey.