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September 02, 2009 03:26 AM
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If you're asking how we can know we exist, then Descarte said it nicely with his, "I think, therefore I know I am, for if I was nothing, I would not be able to think" (aka "I think therefore I am").
If your'e asking what is the Purest "Truth", then Plato did a pretty good cover of that with his recording of Socrate's discusions on "Ideal Forms".
If you're asking what's the deepest truth a human can see within himself, the answer is: There's a certain threshhold of introspection wrought by pealing back "layers of the onion", wherein you can see that you haven't quite seen the deepest truth, but if you go any further, you'll cross a threshhold that you can't come back from, so we are hampered by a certain limit that happens, and is a natural consequence of being incorporated into physical bodies.
Why does "peeling back layers of the onion" ultimately lead to a point of nothingness from which we can't return?
Well, think about it. Suppose you want to understand colour by "peeling back the layers". Start by subtracting Green. Now you've got the "ability" to see the world as nothing but reds and blues and yellows. Now subtract the red, and you see the world as blues and whites and greys. Now peel off the blue, and you see the world as black, white, and shades of grey. Now subtrct the white, and what have you got? You've got *nothing*.
And that's what you're *always* going to end up with if you try to seek innermost truth via a process of "peeling back layers of polluted thought". Peel off enough layers, and eventurally you get down to an "innermost layer", which is still something, whereupon you peel that off, and zwoop... now there's nothing, and you've just gone into *nothingness*!
The inability to see all the way to the deepest truth is a frustration for all humans sooner or later, and different peoples have found different ways of dealing with it.
Some eastern Philosophies practice forms of Mediation to help you relax your mind in order to stop worrying about it.
Western Abrahamic Monotheisms handle it by teaching that nobody's perfect and that nobody is going to be able to see into the deepest core of their being in order to see how to perfect themselves, but don't worry about... God is aware of that fact... and He won't hold it against you if you can just do *something* to demonstrate in a real, tangible way that your heart is in the right place.
Does any of that answer your question? Because frankly, it's not exactly clear what your question is.
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As a person with a MS Degree in Psychology, I believe that the answer to your question lies largely in the personality style of the asker of the question. For example, Miller (1997) stated that there were three belief styles. The true believer style, the conventional style, and the seeker style. The true believer believes that truth exists, people with the conventional style do not question beliefs, and seekers tend to question beliefs and may seek justification or "dwelling" as you put it.
There is a personality trait called openness and people with a high level of openness generally tend to be seekers. In my experience in clinical practice I have seen that most people do not find truth in deeper layers of self. The people who claim to have found truth usually find it outside of themselves. By pouring or merging themselves into a vessel greater than themselves, so to speak. Even in meditation, you may reach a point beyond what you referred to as "thought pollution", where you tap into what some have called the collective unconscious which is outside of your conscious self. This seems to be where people have insights. Although as I stated earlier, insights that are not acted upon tend not to change a person.
In my opinion, truth is an ideal which is never fully attained. It is possible to approach the truth but to actually find it completely seems to be nearly impossible. On the same token, I believe that truth is something worthy of striving for if one feels so inclined to do so.
Statistics is the way of the science for finding the truth so to speak. For example, drug companies do clinical trials of medications and then use statistics as a way of measuring how effective the drugs are. There are some medications that do an excellent job of helping people. However, I find it highly interesting that often the mechanism of action of a drug is not known and is only theoretical in nature.
Source(s):
My own professional experience.
Miller Donald E., Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millenium, Berkeley,University of California Press, 1997.
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gno
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The deeper we dwell to find out truth, where we are actually?
when we want to prove our existence ,when we go out to search we wont find any thing but all known people will say search in deeper layers of self without any thought pollution , to avoid loss of energy.you will be known the truth. kindly express your views and if any experimental data , thank you for spending your most valuable time.
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| September 02, 2009 11:13 AM |
If your'e asking what is the Purest "Truth", then Plato did a pretty good cover of that with his recording of Socrate's discusions on "Ideal Forms".
If you're asking what's the deepest truth a human can see within himself, the answer is: There's a certain threshhold of introspection wrought by pealing back "layers of the onion", wherein you can see that you haven't quite seen the deepest truth, but if you go any further, you'll cross a threshhold that you can't come back from, so we are hampered by a certain limit that happens, and is a natural consequence of being incorporated into physical bodies.
Why does "peeling back layers of the onion" ultimately lead to a point of nothingness from which we can't return?
Well, think about it. Suppose you want to understand colour by "peeling back the layers". Start by subtracting Green. Now you've got the "ability" to see the world as nothing but reds and blues and yellows. Now subtract the red, and you see the world as blues and whites and greys. Now peel off the blue, and you see the world as black, white, and shades of grey. Now subtrct the white, and what have you got? You've got *nothing*.
And that's what you're *always* going to end up with if you try to seek innermost truth via a process of "peeling back layers of polluted thought". Peel off enough layers, and eventurally you get down to an "innermost layer", which is still something, whereupon you peel that off, and zwoop... now there's nothing, and you've just gone into *nothingness*!
The inability to see all the way to the deepest truth is a frustration for all humans sooner or later, and different peoples have found different ways of dealing with it.
Some eastern Philosophies practice forms of Mediation to help you relax your mind in order to stop worrying about it.
Western Abrahamic Monotheisms handle it by teaching that nobody's perfect and that nobody is going to be able to see into the deepest core of their being in order to see how to perfect themselves, but don't worry about... God is aware of that fact... and He won't hold it against you if you can just do *something* to demonstrate in a real, tangible way that your heart is in the right place.
Does any of that answer your question? Because frankly, it's not exactly clear what your question is.
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Voted as best: buddawiggi, gno
Other Answers (1)
September 03, 2009 06:47 AM
To give you a simple answer... dwelling to find the truth will not make a person any better off or any worse off than they are when they begin. Simply knowing information is not sufficient for change, unless a person were to act on that information in some way. As a person with a MS Degree in Psychology, I believe that the answer to your question lies largely in the personality style of the asker of the question. For example, Miller (1997) stated that there were three belief styles. The true believer style, the conventional style, and the seeker style. The true believer believes that truth exists, people with the conventional style do not question beliefs, and seekers tend to question beliefs and may seek justification or "dwelling" as you put it.
There is a personality trait called openness and people with a high level of openness generally tend to be seekers. In my experience in clinical practice I have seen that most people do not find truth in deeper layers of self. The people who claim to have found truth usually find it outside of themselves. By pouring or merging themselves into a vessel greater than themselves, so to speak. Even in meditation, you may reach a point beyond what you referred to as "thought pollution", where you tap into what some have called the collective unconscious which is outside of your conscious self. This seems to be where people have insights. Although as I stated earlier, insights that are not acted upon tend not to change a person.
In my opinion, truth is an ideal which is never fully attained. It is possible to approach the truth but to actually find it completely seems to be nearly impossible. On the same token, I believe that truth is something worthy of striving for if one feels so inclined to do so.
Statistics is the way of the science for finding the truth so to speak. For example, drug companies do clinical trials of medications and then use statistics as a way of measuring how effective the drugs are. There are some medications that do an excellent job of helping people. However, I find it highly interesting that often the mechanism of action of a drug is not known and is only theoretical in nature.
Source(s):
My own professional experience.
Miller Donald E., Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millenium, Berkeley,University of California Press, 1997.
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Voted as best: nickunderscore
gno
September 11, 2009 03:40 AM
Really, really excellent answer. Bravo. Welcome to Mahalo!
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