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Generally and historically speaking there have been three major contenders for figuring out the truth — religion, philosophy, and science. For the modern person, religion has become mere magical thinking, while philosophy is not taken seriously by anyone except philosophers. So all that’s left to lean on for the modern connoisseur of insights is science.
The reason why science enjoys such success is that it dishes out cool new discoveries at an ever-increasing rate which could make one feel as if it is unraveling the secrets of the universe. One honest look, however, will show us that the only advantage science has over religion and philosophy when it comes to the study of truth is said dishing out of cool new discoveries.
In other words, if science wouldn’t make our lives more comfortable and interesting (e.g. enabling us to self-destruct) no one would give a hoot.
The only reason I’m bashing science here is to level the playing field. So let us proceed with science-bashing for two more paragraphs.
Science seems to be leading the race for solving the mystery of existence but it only seems to be leading because most of us buy into it. Science makes fun of religion because religion bases its whole strategy of inquiry on belief and faith, while science does exactly the same. The scientific model is based on unquestioned assumptions which have to be believed in to believe that the scientific model is true.
There is a German saying which fits pretty well here: Wer im Glasshaus sitzt sollte nicht mit Steinen werfen. (literally “Don’t throw rocks if you sit in a glass house.”)
The most important unquestioned assumption is that the universe exists. Science is unable to provide any proof for the existence of a material universe but because it wants to do its science it just neatly sidesteps the first step, takes the existence of a material universe for granted, and starts building on top of this belief.
Ok, that’s it with bashing science. After all, I enjoy science as much as the next guy who doesn’t care much about it. But this article is not about science, nor is it about philosophy or religion (yes, I know the title is slightly misleading). It’s about truth and how to get there — Alethiology.
The Study of Truth
Alethiology means the study of truth but if it’s the absolute truth we’re looking for, and not the relative one, then studying it is the last thing we need to do. Actually, it’s the last thing we can do. This is not to say that we can do it as the last thing on our to-do list but that we cannot do it at all.
What we can study is relative truth aka untruth which we might want to do for amusement or as an income source. You might say that you want to study untruth so that you can discard it as such and move closer to truth, but this sounds like an unnecessarily long process if all you want is the truth.
Another more literal translation of alethiology is the study of the nature of truth which is somewhat better because it indicates an interest in truth not as a piece of knowledge but as primary existence — ground zero. The only issue is that “study” implies that the truth can be learned through books as if enough accumulated knowledge equals truth.
This is not the case.
The reason is simple. Any piece of knowledge is a concept and a concept always refers to something — the thing itself. Saying the truth is knowledge would be saying the truth is a concept. But no concept can be ultimately true as every concept has its opposite concept — hot/cold, dark/light, conscious/unconscious, etc.
Therefore, the truth is not something we know but something we are. We can retreat from untruth so to speak but we can’t take hold of the truth with our greedy minds. Because truth must by definition always be true, it must be true right now. This means that truth is not something we channel or evoke or become but “something” we recognize as the most intimate part of our experience.
The Difference Between Epistemology and Alethiology
Here I want to quickly get into the difference between epistemology and alethiology, which are sometimes considered to be synonymous. They are not. Epistemology is the study of knowledge and its acquisition. Alethiology is specifically concerned with the nature of truth.
This might sound similar but these fields are actually the complete opposite of each other.
If you want to get to the nature of truth then more knowledge and how to acquire it is the last thing you need. You already have more than enough of that. All that knowledge and its acquisition is in the way between you and the truth. So alethiology is more akin to unlearning and unacquiring.
As we have hinted at before, it’s a process of becoming the truth you already are by retreating from untruth.
Although an epistemologist might be interested in alethiology, sooner or later he or she will come to a crossroads. Now there is a choice. Do I remain adherent to the study of knowledge or do I surrender myself to the becoming of truth?
Although it seems like a choice, it really isn’t. The desire for truth is a choiceless choice. Once you set your sight on truth, it’s like a splinter in your mind. You may try to deny it or postpone the uncomfortable confrontation, but you can’t avoid it forever.
And when the moment for making a choice between knowledge and truth has come, then the choice has already been made.
Relativism and Alethiology
It’s quite common that we handle truth like opinions. Actually, we handle truth as if it is exactly an opinion. Of course, we’re talking about relative truth now. Relative truth is kind of cool because it allows us to turn our beliefs into truths and hold on to them as if they are absolute, which is actually a major block to absolute truth.
We might say things like “Ok, this might be your truth but it’s not my truth,” as if truth is something we can own and wear like a t-shirt. Granted, even relatively speaking, there are some “truths” that seem a little too wonky. But no matter how wonky a relative truth is compared to another less wonky relative truth, both of these “truths” are equally untrue.
Truth has no degrees. It’s either true or it isn’t. So in that sense saying that we are hairless primates is as much untrue as saying we are multidimensional unicorns having a near-death experience.
This can be hard to wrap your head around. But it’s only hard because we’ve been indoctrinated since birth to think and believe what the majority thinks and believes. And by living many years with this thinking and believing we harden it into habits of thought and behavior. This is what we might call the programmed state.
Alethiology, then, is simply the act of deprogramming yourself. You reboot and reformat the whole hard drive leaving only the base programming that allows the software to run.
Is There Even an Absolute Truth?
Although we have already answered this question en passant, it might be useful to restate it in simple terms. Yes, there is an absolute truth. No, you can’t know it. The only way to know it is to be it which you already are. That is the whole crux of the dilemma.
Actually, we can expound upon the dilemma. The only “thing” there is is the absolute truth. There is nothing else. Anything else that might be is not.
You have to come to realize that there is no you to realize anything. The realizer and realized are both conceptual — the result of realizing.
The realizing doesn’t involve anything new. It is the simple recognition of what is. And what is, is what you have been deeply familiar with every moment of your life. What is, is that which births all seeming duality. It is consciousness but not the consciousness that is the dual aspect of unconsciousness.
We might call it featureless consciousness — the great common denominator.
The Practice of Alethiology
The practice is really no practice. It’s a ruthless questioning and dismantling of all beliefs. It’s a breaking through the habitual perceiving based on those wrong beliefs.
The ground for this inquiry is your own very being — everything you believe yourself to be — which is in your own immediate experience. But when you’re done with this inquiry, then there is no yourself to believe in anymore.
This doesn’t lead you to a higher state of consciousness or esoteric wisdom or never-ending bliss. It leads you from here to here — right where you are right now.
Remember, the truth is the most intimate “thing” there is. Closer than your breath and more immediate than your sensations. It’s not at the end of a journey full of practice but at every step along the way. The practice doesn’t lead you to the truth. It is already the truth.
This is the paradox. In the end, you see clearly that while doing your practice you have already fully and completely been the truth. Has the practice played any role? Who knows.
It’s the cosmic joke — desperately trying to become something we already are, trying to attain a goal while being the goal ourselves.
Yet, we can’t laugh about the joke until we get it and until we get it, we have to keep going. This is the religion of truth — alethiology.
Luka
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The question that comes to mind when reading this is, “From where does the idea that there is absolute truth come?”
Hi Michael! Well of course “absolute truth” is just one way to express that which always is. What I mean by “absolute truth” is simply that which enables thinking, feeling, seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting. It’s the inevitable. It’s right here even when we question or approve or deny it. You might call it “mind” — the same mind to whom the question came.
My intuition pointed at me yesterday and said I’m already the Truth. And then I encounter this specific entry. I keep telling myself I won’t be surprised whenever this happens but I am. That’s fine. I’ll keep sitting.
Your intuition seems to know what’s up. 🙂