There is undoubtedly a Truth one and eternal which we are seeking, from which all other truth derives

#104777 - 07/08/04 01:56 PM Re: I have the Absolute and Infallible Truth!
Palto Palto regular member Registered: 03/18/04 Posts: 243 IconNoClass:

The ideology Sri Aurobindo portrayed is very intriguing. I do have slightly different views on certain points displayed. There are other parts that I personally find very insightful. First off I agree that there is but one Truth and it is our goal to ascertain that Truth. I also understand that full disclosure of truth to our finite mental capacities is both incomprehensible and most likely destructive. We are not able to ascertain the true meaning of all of the facts even if presented with them. To claim such would be selfish and dishonest, personally placing ourselves in a godlike category.

That is why it is important to have faith in the One who can understand that which we cannot. For this reason also Truth can not be found 'in its entirety' in any single philosophy or Scripture or uttered altogether and forever by one teacher, thinker, prophet or Avatar. I would qualify that by saying that GOD can, but it would have little meaning or benefit to man. The next point made was that Truth expresses itself through time and through the mind of man. I would expand this concept to include events beyond time and outside man's influence or perception, whether immediate and tangible or expansive and intangible. I would agree though that Scripture due to being tied to time and man necessitates the two elements, one temporary, perishable, belonging to the ideas of the period and country in which it was produced, the other eternal and imperishable and applicable in all ages and countries. I see wisdom in the next statement in that our perception of truth can mutate over time having an altered force. This can be intensified through revelation or diminished through culture. This of course does not change Truth but our perception of it.

I also agree that our perception of truth is ever changing and that we can through separation of time and culture never fully understand their viewpoint. I would say though that an understanding of the culture when the document was created might add insight to the intent or acceptable nature. I would also assert that it is possible to understand more of a people through revelation of newfound evidence from the period in addition to deterioration of understanding through missing historic descriptions or the questioning of accepted historical facts. All this though is of little meaning if One who is timeless is in control of the purpose of the document. It may change us individually, but with proper Spiritual guidance the document remains a tool. It is for this reason that great care must be exercised when abandoning Scriptural assertions because the Truth is not ours, but the One who created us. We are mere recipients of His grace and our personal and cultural opinions mean little.

So much division has taken place to cause separation between sects of religion, but even with such division the message reaches those who accept the call. Scripture may also be altered to a point coincident to that allowed by GOD, but not so far as to render it ineffectual. I must say though that the Bible source texts are the most verifiable ancient texts known to be in existence today due to the vast quantity and minimal change throughout. Palto

Sri Aurobindo's writing:
Quote:
First of all, there is undoubtedly a Truth one and eternal which we are seeking, from which all other truth derives, by the light of which all other truth finds its right place, explanation and relation to the scheme of knowledge. But precisely for that reason it cannot be shut up in a single trenchant formula, it is not likely to be found in its entirety or in all its bearings in any single philosophy or Scripture or uttered altogether and for ever by any one teacher, thinker, prophet or Avatar. Nor has it been wholly found by us if our view of it necessitates the intolerant exclusion of the truth underlying other systems; for when we reject passionately, we mean simply that we cannot appreciate and explain. Secondly, this Truth, though it is one and eternal, expresses itself in Time and through the mind of man; therefore every Scripture must necessarily contain two elements, one temporary, perishable, belonging to the ideas of the period and country in which it was produced, the other eternal and imperishable and applicable in all ages and countries. Moreover, in the statement of the Truth the actual form given to it, the system and arrangement, the metaphysical and intellectual mould, the precise expression used must be largely subject to the mutations of Time and cease to have the same force; for the human intellect modifies itself always; continually dividing and putting together it is obliged to shift its divisions continually and to rearrange its syntheses; it is always leaving old expression and symbol for new or, if it uses the old, it so changes its connotation or at least its exact content and association that we can never be quite sure of understanding an ancient book of this kind precisely in the sense and spirit it bore to its contemporaries. What is of entirely permanent value is that which besides being universal has been experienced, lived and seen with a higher than the intellectual vision. ("Our Demand and Need from the Gita")