Angles of Vision

“Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.”--E. Holmes

I personally believe truth is unique to each person. There really are many different lenses in which people see truth. One’s truth may be another person’s lie. Throughout the discussion of truth in philosophy, four readings have explored different author’s takes on their own personal idea of truth. A Vietnam Veteran, O’Brien’s story, explores the idea of truth being found through experiences one has seen, tasted, heard, touched, and smelled. Another lens observed, poet Emily Dickinson, views truth as being very personal and obsolete to what others may believe. Lastly, and maybe one of the least expected places to define truth were in two children books. The first book, about a variety of forest animals also deals with personal views of the truth; however, not everyone may see one’s particular view. For instance, the fox in the story thought of the moon to be a rabbit running away while the other forest animals strongly disagrees with the fox. Hence, every person’s perspective on truth may be different, but in the end, there is only one absolute truth. The last children’s book about a quirky girl that is convinced there are wolves living in the walls of her house. Truth, through this book, is more of a realistic sense. I think people are always saying something that people find hard to believe even though in the end, as scary as the truth may be, turns out to be true. One can see different out looks on truth through the Vietnam veteran, Dickinson the poet, and the children books.

Although all the above outlooks are very diverse and are shown through different ways, there are some similarities to be seen. First of all, I noticed that each authors point is based on what he or she views as truth. I agree one hundred percent. I think truth is one idea that is personal and unique to everyone, whether or not the idea is actually true or not, ones truth may be different than someone else’s. Also, another similarity I had to search for was that each author made it clear that the absolute truth may not exist. For instance when the forest animals go to the scientist for answers about the moon, the scientist does not provide the eager animals with one certain answer. I believe this to be true about every truth. The search for that one truth that stands candid for all provides people with many of the answers he or she is actually looking for. Looking back on all the pieces the class has observed about truth,I believe my insight on similarities is accurate.

With all the above being said, I must say my favorite piece of literature was the book about the moon. I found it intriguing that all the animals had different outlooks on the moon and yet the scientist couldn’t present the animals with one direct answer. This is true about all truths. I think people search for the real, absolute truth, but usually do not end up with knowing it. Through the journey for that one truth people may give up or find a different answer that still satisfies ones question. In the beginning of the semester, the class discussed how people may or may not question life or search for any answers to the questions they have, I have got to say that people should at least try to find their own personal definition of truth because like the authors above mentioned, truths are unique and different for all.