Absolute Truth

Since this blog post can be on ‘any topic under the sun’ and due to the fact that I am pressed for time given the mounting pressure of upcoming examinations, I will discuss a subject that has always been of deep personal interest: truth. To be even more specific, does absolute truth exist or can everything be boiled down to relativity? For example if my shirt is green acknowledged by ninety-nine percent of people who see it yet it appears to be yellow to someone who is colour blind, would it be fair to impose my perception of the truth on this person? After all this person perceives reality in a manner I cannot and for him it is as true that that the shirt is yellow as it is green for me.

Perhaps in our quest for absolute truths, we have become intolerant of those that perceive truth differently than us or of those that do not conform to some of the truths imposed since an early age through religion or cultural and societal norms. While it is very convenient to believe that one’s beliefs are correct and superior, it is exactly this self-righteous attitude which breeds intolerance and serves to blind one from the truth that he seems to be so sure of. After all, Galileo the man known as the father of modern physics was persecuted in his lifetime since he believed that the earth was not the center of the universe, a belief that was in opposition to the Church. This was an entire era that perceived truth in a different light than us and perhaps we would do well to remember that science as a discipline was created by man, and that man is prone to error and self correction. It must be remembered that modern physics is still plagued by contradictions between quantum mechanics and general relativity. There always exists the possibility that many of the truths we believe to be absolute today, may change tomorrow as mankind continues to explore new frontiers both physically and mentally. And may that journey of cerebral discovery never end.