The Tricky Truth

Truth is no simple thing. Without an understanding of it, we can spend our lives arguing for what is true only to realise that we were wasting our time. For example, like arguing whether ‘up’ is better than ‘down’ and never noticing that you can’t have one without the other.

This post is longer than most and asks more of your attention and focus than the others. If you stay with it and look for yourself in your own life at the way truth works, you will probably learn one of the most useful ideas you’ll come upon in this life. Thank you Ken Wilber. It sure did change our lives!

Why Untangle the Truth Knot?

When it comes to Low Footprint Living, having some understanding of truth can make it easy to sort through the often-conflicting perspectives we see and hear about whether we really need to change and what to do if we did.

We can debate in good faith until the end of time, but words will be a poor consolation prize for future generations who inherit a dying world. We have nothing to lose except a few old habits and a whole world of love and joy to be gained. Let’s just get on with it shall we?

You are Always Right

Notice is that no-one is ever wrong when they share what is true for them.

Where it gets tricky is when they assume the same should be true for you. Getting attached to our view of truth and then insisting that others see things as we do is the eternal spark that ignites most all human conflict.

We often talk about truths in the world ‘out there’ (in the world of physical and social structures), like the weather and politics and what to do about a grumpy neighbour or the fact our government thinks we should all drink fluoride in our tap water. When it comes to deciding on the truth about what others can also see, a whole other level of truth comes into view.

Shared Truth

All societies have a moral code and a law book that tells us what we must do (pay taxes usually) and places limits on our behaviour to protect others and our shared social integrity (e.g. no killing or stealing from each other). We need that stuff to live together. Like road laws. It’s a good idea when we all agree to drive on the same side of the road.

Truth is only personal some of the time… the way you treat others is also about them and the moral codes at work in our particular society (which vary greatly around the world), and then it becomes a matter of law to protect liberty, safety and rights … or so we hope if our governments are still ethical.  

Scientific Truth

For the last few hundred years, science has proclaimed itself the only valid source of truth. By their proclamation, if it cannot be proven scientifically then it is not true. Unfortunately that would mean that a great deal of our human experience is rendered impotent, like love, compassion, gratitude, devotion, passion, altruism, kindness, humour, tenderness, spiritual awakening and a whole lot more.

Science is awesome in establishing truths in the material world of atoms, but has no idea about other other types of truth. When you want to measure something in a super-precise way, physics has nailed it.

Ask a dude in a white lab coat to give you the math for the perfect relationship and see how that works out.

True but Partial

The other thing to notice is that, as Ken Wilber said, “no-one is smart enough to be 100% wrong.” No-one is smart enough to be 100% right either. All perspectives have some small or large part of a shared truth. How large a part is usually measured by how useful that view is, but the point is that all views have at least some morsel of truth. All true, and all partial.

Partial truth is built-in to the fact that you have a pulse, and that your awareness is mostly limited to where your body is. Some highly evolved and super pure mystics can do woo-woo stuff, but most of us need to see it and experience it directly before we know what is true. We never know for sure what it is like for another to experience anything. We only ever know for ourselves, and it’s only ever part of the story.

Types of Truth

So, here are the types of truth packaged in a nutshell, each one equally important as the others, in some contexts some more than others…

• personal (what is true for you)
• scientific (what can be measured and weighed)
• moral (what we believe should be true for all)
• and social (rule of law that applies to all)

Tetra-Arising

Here’s an interesting idea … all four types of truth always arise together, at the same time. Whenever we experience anything, we can be sure that it has these four perfectly valid aspects to it … always, for everything.

They arise with different levels of intensity, like music that is sometimes more about the vocals and guitars than it is about keyboards and drums. The next song might have strong keyboard. Every context is unique, each one with its own song.

Which one we give our attention to (or privilege) is a matter of conditioning, habit or deliberate choice. Most arguments come from the certain belief that one of these aspects if more real or true than another, when that is never the case.

The term ‘skilful means’ applies to those who can give their attention to the dominant type of truth and meet the world where it is at.

Tetra Truth Lens

Types of truth are like lenses you can use to look at whatever is happening in your world. When you swap lenses while looking at the same thing, different aspects of it come into focus. All of them together make an image of the whole thing. 

In integral language, truth ‘tetra-arises’, where ‘tetra’ is Latin for four … all four types, all at once all the time.

Ancient Roots

None of this is new news. Plato described a variation of these distinctions some 2500 years ago. He called them The Good (personal), The True (scientific) and The Beautiful (moral), back in the days when moral codes sufficed as the rule of law.

But don’t believe Plato or Wilber of us … look for yourself. Can you see them in your own world?

What about right now? Do you have a body? Do you have a mind? What and who are you in relationship with? What kind of society do you live in? What moral codes do you believe bind you? Do you practice your spiritual side? 

Levels of Truth

At about the same time as Plato, a rising tide of mystics in the Indian subcontinent noticed that there are also levels of truth, each one different to the other by the kinds of objects you perceive. At one level you see physical stuff made of atoms. At another you see ideas and systems that can be used to reorganise stuff in new and useful ways. At another level still you see the flow of intention and creative energy as it interacts with ideas and atoms.

These spiritual types argued that the level of intention is superior to all others, and that mind and body are to be overcome and eventually discarded. The modern view of evolutionary spirituality suggests that all the levels of our being are valuable and worthy of our care and attention.

A few more nutshells, concise tasty morsels … Levels or layers of everything that you and me and everyone experience…

• concrete truth (true in a material sense)
• relative (true in context, as part of a polarity)
• universal truth (true for everyone always)
• and absolute truth (not reducible to words).

One truth is about stuff, the other is about our relationships with it and other people, another is about our society and our relationship with all the creatures on this planet. The absolute is about the whole universe, which is too big to say.

At each level, the four types of truth are all present. It’s like a three storey building, where each floor as four rooms. The view from each room is quite different, but still connected to all the others. From the higher floors you can see more, which can be a blessing or a curse depending on how you look at it.

Ken Wilber unpacked most of this in his integral model. At first it seems complicated but in the end it’s simple. If you spend a little time looking at your own world through these lenses, it can be enlightening to say the least. 

Knowing which truth you are working with supports you to be skilful and efficient, and gives you the power to wield truth in your life with maximum effect.

So What?

As has been often said, the problem is choice. Your mind can make whatever meaning you want about anything, and if you spend enough time and emotional energy on it, you can make it true and real enough to die for. So how to choose? Where do you give your attention? 

For us, a couple of lifetimes of enquiry have boiled down to the choice between love and fear, between supporting to evolve versus re-coiling or attacking when we perceive a threat. We see it 10,000 times a day in every little thing we think, do and say. We also see that the love choice is more nourishing, more satisfying and way more fun.

• You choose what truth you make, and your capacity to make better choices evolves as you grow.
• Others make their own choices, and you are free (if you want) to decide for yourself what is true for you, and to then act in accordance with your truth. When we grant others that same freedom, our violence towards others abruptly ends.
• You get fuel from curiosity, and steer with your values. The more you give your attention to the detailed visualisation of what you want in life, the more you make it real. The more you embody your enthusiasm, the more it manifests in the world. It is impossible to not act when your body, mind and soul all want the same thing.

If you choose to believe in your obligation to future generations to bequeath them a healthy planet, then you will do what you can to make it so.

If you choose to believe that Low Footprint Living is an important part of a good life, then it shall be so.