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The Seeker Of Truth

What are the signs of a seeker of truth? What are the character traits and mental habits they must have? Are you such a person?

It is so easy for "looking for the truth" to turn into "looking for the truth that confirms the beliefs I already have." I have discussed that in previous lessons, along with the problems of ego-identification with ideas, and other "thinking traps." One sign of a true seeker then, has to be challenging one's own ideas.

Do you do that? It doesn't mean you have to necessarily drop what you believe. However, if you really want the truth, you have to be willing to give up any belief, including your most sacred ones - if they are not the most accurate description of reality.

For example, the evidence makes it clear that the earth is millions of years old. Those who hold to the religious view that it 6,000 years-old cannot honestly claim to be seeking truth. (How many of them would have come to that conclusion by through honest research if their religions never existed?) They will only look for "evidence" which confirms what they want to believe. If their holy books said the earth was flat, they would likely argue that the pictures from space are false.

That does not show an interest in understanding the world, but only in a particular set of beliefs. A seeker of truth cannot ignore the evidence of the senses and mind, even if this means altering his or her ideas about the world. What else can we say about honest seekers? Let's take a look.

Profile Of A Truth Seeker

He Has An Open Mind

If carbon-dating and other standards of science were proven to be flawed, then a seeker of truth would have to question things like the scientifically accepted age of the earth. An open mind is open to changing any view as the evidence points to new understandings. But this doesn't mean that such a mind welcomes any unsupported idea. For example, it is not open-minded, but closed-minded to ignore reasonable explanations in favor of "fun" or preferred ones (like aliens making crop circles).

She Challenges Her Own Ideas

As mentioned above, looking for the truth has to mean the willingness to challenge and even throw away ones most sacred beliefs and ideas. If truth is paramount, all convictions are expendable. If truth is "sacred" (in the non-religious sense) then beliefs and ideas can't be, for they're only fallible representations in words of what we see or think we see.

Suppose, for example, a woman has always believed that "lying is wrong." Then one day she is in a circumstance where a lie is clearly needed. Lying in this case is is morally right (a murderer asks where the kids are hiding, etc. - use your imagination). To be honest, she has to either challenge her definition of "lying" or her belief that it is always wrong. After all, her alternative is to deny the truth she sees and do something immoral as a result.

He Listens To Others

Even the smartest man in the world can learn from others. In fact, if he is interested in truth, he has to learn from others. In listening to people, we not only learn new ideas, but we see the way in which a person comes to believe things. This either shows us better ways to think directly, or reminds us of errors we may be making. We see an mistake in a man's reasoning, for example, and recognize that we may be making the same mistake in other areas.

Also, people may be wrong in particular and yet right in the principles they point out. For example, a man may repeat some unproven idea, like "80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts." We can see the silliness of such an assertion, and that any study "proving" this probably has questionable ways to measure "results" and "efforts." But at the same time, we can see the truth of the underlying principle that some of the things we do are much more effective than others.

She Doesn't Consider Truth To Be Up For A Vote

A truth seeker learns from others, but never makes her own thinking subject to majority rule. If the whole world is wrong on some point, she is willing to stand alone and proclaim the truth she sees. This isn't a matter of ego, but a recognition that her mind has to be the final judge. Even choosing to rely on an "expert" or a group consensus means her own mind must decide which expert or group to believe, so that in the end, there is no other way to arrive at truth but by her own efforts and trusting in her own mind.

He Accepts The Uncertainty and Flux Of Life

A man may be very decisive and yet still use the words probably and maybe. This is because he sees that we have to act without full knowledge. From such a perspective, a decision never means, "I am doing this because it is certainly the best thing to do." It means "I choose to act, and to do the best I can with what I currently know."

Most things we call knowledge are "probably" or "likely" true. Like a scientist, a person who seeks truth is ready to act while recognizing that life is uncertain. At times (perhaps most) "probabilities" are all we will have to work with. Accepting this allows us to do the best we can. Pretending there are more certainties than there are means we cannot so easily see better understandings as they present themselves.

She Is Skeptical, But Not Cynical

A cynic is "A person whose outlook is scornfully and often habitually negative," or "A faultfinding captious critic." This is not a useful. In its ultimate expression, it becomes a reluctance to believe anything, even as "operating principles." Whatever the "ultimate" truths turn out to be, clearly there are better and worse (more and less useful) ways to see things.

A skeptic, on the other hand, is "One who instinctively or habitually doubts, questions, or disagrees with assertions or generally accepted conclusions." This does not imply any negativity. It is simply a recognition that much of what we "know" is eventually overturned by better knowledge. It makes sense to doubt and question our beliefs - and then use them anyhow until better ones are available. It is the questioning that might bring about the better understanding.

He Is Both Creative And Analytical

Critical analysis is necessary to test the validity of our ideas, which means how close to the truth they are. Creativity is what gives us those new ideas to test. Both are likely to be among the mental habits of a seeker of truth.

She Is Reflective

We have to be wary of our own internal motivations. There are thoughts and ideas and beliefs which are important to parts of us, and will resist change. In other words, not all of one's mind is interested in arriving at the truth.

The truth seeker, then, has to reflect on what is going on internally. Is a point of view based on honest observation, or is it promoted by some feelings or motivations that are not interested in how things really are? For example, an environmentalist may believe that "using pesticides is always dangerous," but upon reflection realize that this conclusion is based on a lower level of evidence than she normally requires.

Once aware of that, she might observe that she habitually lowers her standards when the conclusion is one that fits her previously stated views. In other words, her standard of truth is contingent upon whether she wants to believe something. Recognizing this thinking error, she can correct it.

This kind of reflection and self-observation is crucial. Honesty has to start with being honest about our own tendencies, motivations, limitations and possible thinking errors. Without some level of self awareness, we will often be mislead by those parts of us which do not seek truth.

He Changes His Mind

If you want to know whether a man is interested in the truth or not, see if he ever changes his mind. Ask him if there are issues he has a different view on now than he did in the past. Ask yourself if you've seen him change his beliefs in the years you have known him. If neither of you can come up with examples, he probably shouldn't be considered a seeker of truth.

The same is true for yourself, of course. While we can speculate on the possibility of a person always finding the best expression of the truth on the first try, life experience tells us this is so unlikely that it verges on impossible. Moreover, life continually presents new evidence that must change honest minds. If we are always looking for more insight into the nature of reality, we will almost certainly have to alter what we believe on many things many times.

Are You A Seeker Of Truth?

Do you look only at things which support your existing beliefs, or are you willing to overturn anything and everything you know as better understandings present themselves? Are you open minded, willing to listen to others, creative and yet analytical? Look over the list above again, and see how well you fit the profile of an honest seeker of truth.

Until next time,

Steve

www.RadicalNewThoughts.com