It’s time we stopped idolizing truth. It’s time we stopped treating truth like a banner at the end of a mid-distance race.
See, over there in the distance? That’s truth, we say. It’s just over there, and if you just put forth a little effort, you’ll find it. And then, well, you’re done. You can just swim in truth the rest of your life. No wonder so many people feel inadequate in their testimonies.
No, truth is not something so easily attainable as we Latter-day Saints like to make it out to be. Thanks to the oversimplification of scriptures like Moroni’s promise in the Book of Mormon, we’ve created a church with an overdeveloped fetish for “truth,” as if it is some destination easily attained by reading a few chapters and saying a few prayers.
Truth is more like a wet bar of soap. Squeeze it too tight, and it will slip right out from under you. It’s like humility. The second you profess you have it, you’ve automatically lost it. Truth is like the fog. It’s always one small step ahead of you. You’re never really in it, but you’re always surrounded by it.
Truth isn’t designed to be known through the same type of studying you do to take a test. Truth is to be lived. It is to be felt. It is to be experienced.
Truth is not a destination. It’s not some ultimate goal we are striving toward. It is a force we are swimming in, but never fully able to grasp in this mortal realm. We’re blinded by so many things around us. Our own humanity. Our pettiness. Our understanding of time and space. Our preposterous hubris in thinking we can fully grasp the mysteries of the universe.
There’s a difference between truth and facts. Facts can tell us how many pages the Book of Mormon has in it, but it can’t communicate what you can feel from those pages. Only truth can.
Facts tell me that I have two children and a wife, but they can’t communicate to me the truth of the love I have for my family. Facts tell us that we can reliably count on the sun coming up in the morning and setting at night, but they can’t communicate the vastness of the night sky nor the jaw-dropping beauty of a fiery sunset. Facts can tell us about the creation of the earth. Truth helps us feel closer to its creator.
Of course, if truth is anything like I describe it to be, I could be completely wrong about all of this.
James Patterson
James Patterson lives with his wife and two children in North Carolina. He makes no apologies for being an avid fan of both Duke basketball and Taylor Swift.
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Best post ever!
I certainly agree with your statement that truth isn’t a destination and that’s it’s something active that you do, that you live in… Hopefully for the rest of mortal life and beyond. I can say that I somewhat take exception that members regularly say that truth is an endgame, easily obtained by “reading a few scriptures and saying a few prayers.” While I’ve met members that think like that, they are not the majority. Moreover, it’s also not the message given by Church Leadership. One of my favorite quotes by late Pres. Hinckley (right before I joined the Church) when asked what the symbol of our Church was since we didn’t display the Cross: “it has to be the lives of our members.” Truth isn’t something we simply attain. It’s something we live and hopefully, something that we become.
When talking about truth abstractly, many members recognize the incompleteness of our knowledge. I think it is accurate to point out that the majority of members accept certain specific truth claims as an endgame. I understood James’s message to be referring to these cases which truly are prevalent. We admit to not knowing all truth, but we know the Book of Mormon is true and that President Monson is a prophet in a one time, pray about it and feel the Spirit, sense. This then discourages nuance, ongoing struggle, or questioning that would seem to bring into question the simple, all or none, interpretation of these experiences. Many members ignore these cultural pressures in their personal lives, but many members feel hindered in bringing their personal, unscripted journeys out in public. We self police in some unhealthy ways.
Darn it! With that title, I was looking for a whole different essay. Can you write the one I was thinking of. Fiery, calling church essays out as insulting to intellect and demanding confessions for dishonesty in the church. Demanding a SS class for misfits who doubt and want to speak truthfully and frankly about issues….
Sign me up for that Sunday school class!
“Truth is like the fog. It’s always one small step ahead of you. You’re never really in it, but you’re always surrounded by it.”
This true for me too.
Hi