Q&A: Attaining Truth
Attaining Truth
Question
I wanted to share something with you and hear your opinion:
As I get older and wiser, I am much less certain about almost every belief I hold in life.
I mean the concept of truth. Or the ability to attain it.
And why?
A. I am aware of the power of education and personal biases.
B. I see how every issue is broad and depends on many other issues. And when, on many issues, you form an opinion only because it seems reasonable, then when something is built on many such “reasonables,” it feels very weak.
C. I see that most things really do have two sides, for someone who thinks honestly.
And many times I do not have the tools to decide.
What do you say?
Answer
I completely identify with that. But as one gets older, one is also supposed to understand that the striving for certainty is childish. You have to make decisions under conditions of uncertainty. To spend all day agonizing over searches for personal biases, like the moralists, is also very childish.