This philosophical reflection argues that truth remains a fundamental value across cultures and throughout history. Drawing from Greek philosophy, Roman thought, and Christian theology, the author contends that truth is essential for meaningful relationships, just society, and spiritual life. The piece warns against "post-truth" attitudes that undermine moral and civil order.
Does truth make a difference? Is it important after all? Traditionally, truth, as well as goodness, along with unity and beauty, have been considered humanity’s highest values. They even have been understood as most appropriately applied to God and only secondarily to God’s creatures. In the Gospel of John Jesus says that he is the Truth (John 14:6Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.) It is thus strange that some speak today of a post-truth world. A world in which truth does not matter? How could that be!
At the origins of Western civilization, we find people like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. For many, these are almost household names, even if what they taught might remain unfamiliar. Plato was a student of Socrates whose love of truth and integrity of life were immortalized in Plato’s dialogues recounting Socrates’ trial and death. Aristotle was a student of Plato at Plato’s Academy for about twenty years, with whom he pursued truth, although he eventually differed with Plato over Plato’s understanding of form. But one must go where one’s search for truth guides one. One of my choice sayings is: Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas. Plato is my friend, but truth is even more so a friend, or “I love Plato, but I love truth more,” a saying attributed to Aristotle who had great respect and admiration for his teacher, but whose search took him to some different conclusions. All were dedicated, however, to the pursuit of truth. They were philosophers, friends of wisdom. Before them was Pythagoras, equally influential, who was the first to call himself a philosopher. Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, all predate the teachings of Jesus, and as pagans gave witness to the value of truth and dedicating one’s life to it. An axiom of Greek thought is an expression attributed to Socrates, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” So valued was veritas by Socrates that he was willing to die for it.
Truth was a value esteemed within the Roman world as well as among the Greeks. Cicero had written: “The first law for the historian is that he shall never dare utter an untruth. The second is that he shall suppress nothing that is true. Moreover, there shall be no suspicion of partiality in his writing, or of malice.” The Graeco-Roman world was grounded in the pursuit of truth. So has the Judeo-Christian world. In the Hebrew Bible, Isaiah speaks of “the God of truth” (Isaiah 65:16so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes.), not to mention the many references in the Psalms and elsewhere. One of the commands of the Lord was not to bear false witness (Exodus 20:16"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.).
At the trial of Jesus, Pilate cryptically asked the perennial question: What is truth?” (John 18:38Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no basis for a charge against him.). According to the Gospel of John, Jesus said “I am the Truth” (John 14:6Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.). For Christians, God is Truth. Christ is Truth. The Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. In the Gospel of John, chapters fourteen to sixteen, Jesus speaks about sending another Advocate or Comforter, who is described three times as the Spirit of truth. John says as well that we are to worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."), that the truth will make us free (John 8:32You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."), that those who follow Jesus are to be consecrated in truth (John 17:17Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.). St. Paul wrote about the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1CO 5:8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.), speaking the truth with love (Eph 4:15but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ;), girding our loins with truth (Eph 6:14Stand therefore, having the utility belt of truth buckled around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,), and guarding the truth that has been entrusted to us by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us (2Tim 1:14). Whether we turn to the Jewish world or to that of the Gentiles, to philosophy or to theology, to the ancient world or the modern, to the West or the East, truth is accorded the highest esteem. Truth is not something to be trifled with. It has an objective dimension and yet is highly personal. It is not subject to fabrication. There can be evidence, facts, verifiability, and falsifiability, depending on the nature of what a claim might be. But does it matter whether something is true or not?
If we look to history, truth does matter. And it matters to our future. Would you want to build your future on false premises? Would you want a relationship to be based on a lie? Would you want to live in a society where we could not trust one another? Would you want to live in a world where everyone created his or her own universe? Where communication was not possible? Would you prefer the tower of Babel to a harmonious life? Why would Jesus say, “I am the truth,” if the truth makes no difference? In the end we do value truth. We value integrity.
Truth of course can be understood in varied ways, but in all of them there is a search for something that matters, ultimately matters, that makes a difference. It is also a question of character rather than duplicity, of self-knowledge rather than self-deception, of trustworthiness rather than a disregard for what is. “What is truth?” is different from the question: Who cares what the truth is? The former manifests a genuine search at the core of life for what is significant. The latter manifests a lack of moral character, of personal integrity, of disregard for the basis of a just society.
Jesus can say “I am the truth,” because he is without sin, because he has integrity, because to know him is to know the Father. He asks others to come to him: "Come to me all you who labor and find life burdensome" (Matthew 11:28"Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.). He asks the disciples to follow him, and they do, because they sense that there is something there. He’s the real thing. Truth puts us in touch with what is real, with what matters. Jesus would not say “I am the truth,” and “the truth will set you free” if it is not something to be highly valued. Let us not take the search for it or the commitment to it for granted.
Self-deception, consciously deceiving others, or a callous lack of concern for the truth of things all contribute to the undermining of civil and moral life. The bedrock, preamble, for all spiritual strivings lay in the practice of virtue. For a society of free beings, to function well together, there must be a commitment to a moral order. As I mentioned, some have spoken about our living at present in a post-truth society. If that be so, there is little glue to hold humanity together. There are always differences of opinion, disputed questions, different lenses through which we view things, and this diversity can be enriching. Different religious traditions, different cultural perspectives, different moments in history, different experiences of life. But they all reflect the desire to know the truth and to live it. So, as was true of our ancestors, and is for our common future, what we must hold in common is a commitment to truth as one of our highest values.
Every night, as the monk or nun or priest prays Night Prayer (Compline), they say: “Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit. You have redeemed us, Lord God of truth.”
Yes, Lord, you are the God of Truth. Help us to be truthful.
