“The manifestation of the wind of thought is no knowledge; it is the ability to tell right from wrong, beautiful from ugly,” Hannah Arendt
“At the core of both our nature and our way of being within nature is a relentless, collective conversation about what is good and what is true.” Richard Bernstein - Excerpted from “The Vicissitudes of Nature,” published posthumously.
I have spent a month somewhat off-line. No blogs. No podcasts. No meetings. Just reading and thinking and being.
And this idea of “truth” keeps making its way into my purview. Not your truth. Not my truth. But truth.
What I do know is many of us are attempting to get to truth through feelings. As well, many of us try to get to it through our understanding of science. Some through social media. Some through politics. And then there is religion.
But we all are facing the prospect that truth has turned its back on us. There is no one truth you might say. It is a matter of perspective or context or power.
If this is true, how should one live in this world?
Many have heard me use a term called “the logic ladder”. It was meant to be transparent on how I proceeded through the data I was collecting to form ideas and climbed the ladder of reason to arrive at a destination that was open to being acted upon or reformulated using a different logic ladder.
I have used this approach in strategic thinking, planning, and operational process design.
It is a good approach, but gets muddied when on subjects of lasting import, especially around worldviews.
What is a worldview? It is the north star for defining priorities in one’s life and accounting for one’s actions.
And we don’t have the luxury of a K-12 or higher education system that helps us construct this before we launch into the world. It is no wonder that most of us are living lives “of quiet desperation”. We forego the agency of changing our world with real innovation thinking framed by our worldview, to lessons on political activism, and narrative warfare to influence those in power and those who consume.
Truth is a radical word. Approach it with care. “It is not the secret of a few”, said Ferlinghetti, “but some would maybe think so”. Spend time at the top of the pyramid really understanding what you believe to be true about your life and your becoming. Then have the discipline and rigor to transfer that knowledge into a practicum for living. Your priorities will change. Your sense of purpose will grow. And, overtime, you will learn it will stand you up in any storm. And humble you in any success.
I am a student and fellow sojourner. I wish you the best in a great conversation around what is “good and what is true”.