Everything is Truth

Walt Whitman, one of the most influential poets in the American canon, once said, “Whatever satisfies the soul is the truth”(Truth Quotes). Walt’s saying truly reflects my idea toward truth. I believe human beings possess innate intuitions in our souls, which would help us to judge what is truth. Truth in this way is completely relative because everything including logical axioms in mathematics can be either true or fault depending on each individual’s unique intuition. Even universal truth can be inappropriate in certain circumstances due to various moralities, emotions or perceptions.

One of the examples that can be used to illustrate that truth based on human intuition is totally relative is the choice of subscription of Economist, which is an English-language weekly newspaper, depending on different context. In one of the TED videos we watched in last few classes, Dan Ariely talked about the percentages people would choose among three choices, which were Economicst.com subscription ($59), Print subscription ($125), and Print & Web subscription ($125). Under those three conditions, most people (84%) tended to choose the last one, which was Print & Web subscription with $125. However, once the second option was deleted, the most popular one became the least popular one. About 68% of people began to choose the first choice, Economist.com subscription with 59 dollars a year. How could that happen? The seemingly useless second choice was actually pretty important in our understanding about truth! Our intuition told us the third choice was better compared to the other two options. Then we thought we found an absolute truth! But is that a truth? I think it is because our decisions to buy the third one truly satisfied ourselves. We’re proud of ourselves for making this decision under that circumstance. Maybe some people will say that is commercial manipulation instead of truth. Nevertheless, their opinion is also a relative truth, isn’t it?

Besides, in the Matrix, Morpheus is the only one who believes that Neo is “the one” from the beginning to the end of the movie. Even when Neo himself believes he is not the one, Morpheus still insists that Neo is the one. Morpheus’s intuition tells him that is the truth. Neo’s present truly satisfies Morpheus’s soul. Morpheus is even willing to sacrifice his own life to save Neo in order to further save the whole human beings. Life Morpheus, Trinity also believes that Neo is the only for two reasons. One is for her definite believe to Oracle and her love to Neo. Her deep soul believes that Oracle knows everything. Oracle tells her that she will fall in love with “ the One”. And then she loves Neo. Then she believes that Neo is “the one”. The second reason is due to her trust to Morpheus. She knows Morpheus will not be wrong! Then here her notion about truth is also relative and based on her own soul. Her regard to Morpheus and Oracle and her love to Neo make her believe that Neo is definitely the once.

The question about “What is truth?” always reminds me of “why do we as human beings pursuit truth?” I believe by pursuing truths, human beings get to satisfy their deep souls. It does not really matter whether or not the truths are created based on manipulation, economic growth or any other intentions. The most important part about truths is that those truths can satisfy our souls and make us happy! If a “truth” does not make us happy in our deep hearts, then is that really a “truth”?