The local newspaper in Twin Falls has an editor who put out an op-ed piece that dealt with how certain people treat their political affiliation like it was their religion. She was absolutely spot-on in her assessment that many see that their opinions are truth, when in fact they are merely opinions.
There are absolute truths which can not be changed, altered or omitted from our common experience. We are conceived by a man and a woman, we are born and grow to sexual maturity, meet a mate, procreate offspring, then some time down the line we must die. That is absolute truth.
There are certain facts that everyone is exposed to that could become moral imperatives where we perceive as something of truth, such as stealing, killing, or being ill-mannered is wrong and shouldn’t be tolerated.
Then, there are opinions that bear a philosophical belief that is considered by some to be truth, such as a belief in a spiritual omnipotence, which I believe in and I’m sure most everyone else does as well. Books were written that we now view as the Holy Bible, the Jewish Torah or the Islamic Koran. The Eastern religions have books of that note too, such as “Tao Te Ching” of Taoism, “The Analects” of Confucius, “The I Ching,” “The Bhagavad Gita” of Hindu faith, and Alan Watts, “The Way of Zen” which focuses on the teachings of Buddha. They all tried to explain through parody, myth and morality questions of why we exist or are in the vastness of space and time.
Obviously nowhere in any of those books does it mention political truth because it does not exist, period. There is no political truth, only opinions that are espoused and held on to by whomever holds that belief. Long ago it was believed that God gave birthright to a family to become the hieratical mandate to rule a nation, until Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Now we have two points of view who read this and believe that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness means two vastly different things, rather than a common pursuit. The truth of the matter is that there can be but one absolute truth, that we are conceived, live and hopefully find our mate, have children who grow up and children of their own and then when all is said and done, we all must breathe out last breath. After that is up to our personal belief. Our opinions after death don’t matter.
Jerry Schellhammer 