We all claim to want to get closer to the truth, yet few of us truly achieve it lastingly. The quest for truth is a painful process that often requires enduring many years of discomfort. This discomfort can take the form of loneliness, exclusion, misunderstanding from others, seemingly futile sacrifices, or the feeling of being lost oneself. Fighting alone and against everyone is hard. Over time, we get exhausted, and sometimes we give up and join the crowd of people fed on comforting lies. It’s hard to resist the force of the many. We love the truth, but we love even more to be loved and accepted by a group. That’s partly why we might eventually accept a lie if many people believe it, rather than remaining alone with the truth. The truth is only for the brave. Those who join the flock of devout sheep to follow false dogmas are often more in search of belonging than of truth.
Truth has a price
So, you will understand, truth is expensive. It does not present itself to just anyone. It needs to know what you are made of before it allows you to get close. But first, what is the point of seeking the truth if lies make us happy? Lies can satisfy; they can soothe us, but deep down, we know that happiness founded on lies is only a substitute for happiness. There will always be a pressing desire within us to set out in search of the truth to experience a higher degree of happiness. Truth is an intimate experience incomparable with a life of comfort lived in falsehood, its price is high and it requires a real desire to reach it.
The quest for truth is a process
Sometimes, we briefly encounter the truth. This experience transforms us, making all subsequent experiences seem bland. This encounter with the truth, whether accidental or intentional, puts our life into perspective and allows us to assess the quality of our past experiences. The truth we once encountered suddenly becomes the benchmark against which we measure what we have been until then. This realization can be transformative in the sense that it can change our trajectory and even question who we are. This glimpsed truth is a challenge to take up. Would we be capable of pursuing it, or do we prefer to pretend not to have seen it and return to our usual activities?
What form does truth take?
Truth most often takes the form of difficulty. Being a personal experience, truth only reveals itself to those who traverse the difficult passes. It can resemble the peak of a mountain. Earning the right to contemplate the landscape and horizon necessarily comes from effort. We can all decide to ignore the beauty offered by the summit’s view by remaining in the valley. However, there will always remain deep within us the desire to discover what lies beyond the clouds. What makes the difference is not so much our natural ability to live in the truth but rather our determination to pursue it because it is more akin to a marathon than a sprint.
Encountering truth is transformative
There are things that do not leave us indifferent and even transform us for life. Becoming aware of a new reality moves us and forces us to redefine the trajectories of our existence. It’s a bit like traveling for the first time to a distant land. Such a journey can shake us up and question the choices we have made so far because they did not take into account a new reality that has transformed us. An intimate encounter with the truth often acts as a turning point in the curve of existence or as the bounce of a pinball off the walls of the arcade game.
