Basic Assumptions: Only One Objective Truth

It should be obvious enough to say that if something is true, then something contradictory cannot simultaneously be true. People understand this on a logical level, but when it comes to philosophical and religious questions, more and more people are willing to believe that I can have my truth while you have your truth. This is ridiculous. Even if I make a statement like “Green is better than yellow,” it is understood that green is not really objectively better than yellow. What I’m really saying is that I prefer green to yellow. If it could accurately be said that as a matter of fact green really is better than yellow, then that would be that. Another person could not come in and say that yellow is better. One person or the other must be wrong. And in this case, we can see that both are wrong, because this is a matter of opinion, not of fact.

Some people point to the quantum principle of superposition as evidence that two things can simultaneously be true. This argument is evidence that they do not understand superposition. The theoretical principle states that a particle exists both in state A and state B simultaneously until the point of measurement, at which time, the particle then exists in one state or the other. Assuming this is a true principle, there is still only one truth – the particle exists in state A and state B simultaneously. It would be false to say that it exists in state A only, or in state B only. When the particle is about to be measured, we can each place our bet on what state it will be in; maybe you say state A and I say state B. But when the measurement takes place, one of us will be wrong. There is only one truth.

Why would this change in matters of philosophy and religion? If a thing is true, it does not change depending on our perspective or belief. If, for example, in reality, it was true, that there was a deity named Prometheus who visited the Greeks several thousand years ago and taught them how to use fire, then, regardless of whether we can find proof of it, that’s what happened. It doesn’t matter whether you think it happened or not. It was a historical event. Likewise, if it didn’t happen, no amount of belief will change that. Prometheus didn’t somehow visit the Greeks in my reality, but not in yours. Your reality and mine are the same.

Why do people say that it is possible for something to be true for one and false for another? It is a weak attempt at making peace between groups who believe in incongruent stories. You have two groups arguing over facts that are important to them. Both parties passionately believe something absolutely false on the matter. But because they cannot be dissuaded from their lies with any amount of effort, and the disagreement causes disharmony, eventually, some have decided that the higher road is to hand them another lie to hang on to, a lie which allows an exit from the argument without requiring an actual resolution – both parties can be right in their own subjective view. Sadly, this takes us even further from the truth than we were in an irresolvable argument. The important fact to recognize is that people get upset in such arguments precisely because discerning the truth on such matters is terribly important. Rather than trade the noble pursuit of higher truth for an illusion of rightness, we need to be willing to trade our false conceptions for the truth, in spite of our fears.

A statement such as “Your God is real to you and my God is real to me,” is untenable in objective reality. It only approaches sensibility if we try to relegate the question to a matter of opinion or preference. Essentially, what this statement implies in that sense is that the whole question is so meaningless or absurd that it doesn’t matter in the slightest what you believe about it. To me, this seems even more insulting than a heated argument over the matter. The other possible implication is that reality is not real, that perhaps we are each just dreaming our own dreams, which happen to intersect at this point. I have already written what I will about the idea that reality isn’t real in a previous post.