True color of candor
We have to revisit our understanding of truth and our attitude towards it. I’m sure we are going to discover new aspects, even crucial ones, that we have been ignoring for a number of reasons, usually the limitations, not to mention, the deformities of our culture.
We have to look at the bigger picture. So far, what seems common is the reductive idea of truth whose bad effects, accumulated through the ages, are now starting to blow up.
Like, truth is often held as any cold piece of fact, data and information that we can use in any way we want. We even consider that kind of truth as the objective truth, incontrovertible, infallible and immutable. As long as we are in possession of this kind of truth, we feel we are already in the right.
Just look at some of our politicians now, throwing mud at each other, each one saying he has the truth about the other. The same predicament takes place when one uses the legal system, for example, purely to seek revenge and satisfy spite, instead of attaining justice.
That would be like using a knife, meant to cut meat, to stab and kill a fellow.
But this cannot be truth. Truth, to be entirely objective, complete and fair, should be a product of a living relationship of love between God and us, between others and us, between all things and us.
It cannot but be an organic part of our life, which in the end is a life shared with God, others and all things. It cannot just be an expendable part, to be used only for purely pragmatic if not selfish purposes.
Understood in this way, we can readily realize that truth is something that has to flow from God who, in the end, is the creator of the world, the author of what is real, what is true and false, what is good and evil in this world.
It cannot and should not be sequestered by us, as if we now make ourselves the ultimate arbiter and even author of reality itself, the original maker of what is true and false, what is good and evil.
Rather, it has to be sought by making an effort to know and love God, and with that knowledge and love, to also know and love others and all things.
Relevant to this point, the Catechism teaches: “It is in accordance with their dignity that all men, because they are persons…are both impelled by their nature and bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth.
“They are also bound to adhere to the truth once they come to know it and direct their whole lives in accordance with the demands of truth.” (CCC 2467)
Truth has an objective and a subjective part. Its subjectivity demands that it ultimately has to be lived and loved, and not simply known. And it has to be lived not only by oneself, but also by us and always with God and with others.
In other words, truth has to involve our whole person in our over-all and unavoidable connection with God and with everybody and everything else. That’s why truth cannot be truth alone, but always truth in charity.
Without charity, we cannot help but deform truth, since any piece of objective fact, data and information will tend to be cut off from its vital relationship with God and with others.
It will be a truth held captive by our own limited understanding of things, a tool to our biases and personal designs. It will fail to comply with the requirements of the common good.
Without charity, truth gets unhinged from its proper moorings and purpose. And when it gets on the loose, it can cause a lot of trouble. It can turn out to be a loose cannon, a floating mine at sea, posing great danger to anyone.
Sad to say, this is what we are seeing often these days. Reading the blogs in the Internet regarding some issues, I get the impression that though there are some objective data brought out, there is lack of charity. Bad manners, insulting words so dominate that someone said Internet civility seems to be an oxymoron.
We need to reinforce this crucial aspect of truth as an organic fruit of our relationship with God and others in the minds of everyone. Let’s pray that this true color of candor can “go out and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.”
(Fr. Cimagala is the Chaplain of Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City. Email: roycimagala@gmail.com)
