Truth and Traffic Lights
That intersection. It’s always that intersection. The traffic light always turns red when I approach it. Always. Well, so it seems.
You probably have a least favorite intersection as well. It’s that light that, no matter what time of day you approach it, you always hit the red.
Well, to other people it may appear to be red. Your truth is that it’s green. So, you just drive on through. Right? Nope.
It doesn’t matter if you believe it’s green when it’s red, think it’s green when it’s red, or even wish it were green when it’s red. When it’s red it’s red.
Without truth there is no order. You may not like the red light, but if you blow through the intersection, it is more probable than not that you will cause a serious accident. Trying to live like the only thing that matters is your own personal truth won’t yield lasting order in your life. It will result in total chaos.
To have order in anything demands you to believe there is something real about it. Something lasting. Something tangible. Something true.
Sadly, living in a world of relative “truth” really means we exist without decorum and order, whether that be in a marriage, a career, or even our own health and wellness. Relative truth is a fiction made up in the minds of those who want to live their life unfettered by conventions, guardrails, norms, protections, and standards.
You can relate to truth in a certain way, as in when we deny the light is red or agree that it is so. Something is true, or it isn’t. It cannot be both true and false. It’s called the law of noncontradiction. Even when it is sometimes true, it is true when it is true and false when it is false. The light is sometimes red. When it’s red, it’s true that it is red and false that it is green.
There is no such thing as relative truth. Without absolute truth you will never experience firm ground in your life. You will be like a ship in the middle of the ocean being tossed around in a raging tempest.
Stop saying it’s, “My truth.” Don’t let others get away with it either. It’s either true or it isn’t. It could be your opinion, now that is possible. But we like to add weight to our position by calling it our truth. Your truth is utter hogwash bordering on depraved insanity.
Order. You can’t have it without truth. It’s true that the light is red when it’s red. But the light is not green when it’s red. No matter how much I protest and stammer, the light is not red when it’s green.
It’s red when it’s red, and good order for the good of the community demands that I stop, which is what we should do when it comes to using the phrase, “It’s my truth.” No, it’s not. You don’t own truth. It’s not personal. It’s objective. Truth belongs to everyone, which is why it leads to good order.
Truth and traffic lights. They can teach us a lot about real life.