Annoying phrase #239. Does 'my truth' mean 'the truth', or 'the truth according to me', because the latter is likely to be more subjective than the former, and come to think of it they're both subjective. What's the difference between telling 'my truth' and 'the truth'?

Julia Proofreader, Twitter

I think what is making so many people so anxious here in the digital age is the fact that they've become uncomfortably aware of the consensual nature of reality, such as it is. It can make you nervous.

'Truth is truth to the end of all reckoning,' bleated Shakespeare. Oh, yeah? How much of what the Swan of Avon took for granted do we now realise to have been a collection of old wives' tales? That's apart from the humongous number of barefaced lies those people told each other. They were almost as bad as we are.

As Vroomfondel insisted, there may – or may not – be something Out There called Absolute Truth. If there is, I venture to speculate that you will be unlikely to find it on the television. Or Twitter. But the world we live in absolutely does not deal in Absolute Truth. It deals in the reality most people have agreed on at any given moment. And that's scary sometimes. After all, it was made up by people, and we know how unreliable they are, because 'people' includes us. Worse, some of it is made up by politicians or media stars or 'experts' who cheated on their Graduate Record Exams.

The first problem you have with the contingent nature of your consensual world is the realisation that, even if you find a new piece of the puzzle that is truth – meaning, I suppose, a reasonably accurate and consistent picture of what is – it won't do you a bit of good to go around talking about it. Not unless you have a 'platform'. On the other hand, if you could get Ms Oprah Winfrey to announce it, maybe somebody would listen.

The second problem comes when it hits you that the groups you're in are cherry-picking their realities. It takes work, sometimes, to keep abreast of what the folks in the book club think versus your friends at the pub, never mind the ones at Sunday service… It can give you a headache.

Consensual reality can work to our advantage. Have you ever known a really devoted married couple who've been together for years and years? They're both over 80, and he thinks she's the greatest beauty of her time. (You've seen their wedding pictures and it's puzzling.) She thinks he was the catch of her generation. (He's a nice guy, but never set the world on fire.) Their consensual reality makes them happy. Who's to complain?

Another way consensual reality can be made to work for us is if we decide to announce that perfection is doable: we can make the planet clean, disease-free, just, fair, and welcoming to all. We can share our resources and learn to love our neighbour. And if anybody says otherwise, we just stick our fingers in our ears and chant, 'La, la, la, I can't hear you.'

Why not? It's been working the other way for centuries. Why not give it a try?

Anyway, that's MY truth for today.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

05.04.21 Front Page

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