Truth Decay to Truthless: Trust requires faith in the Truth- and truth in faith.

 

Truth Decay to Truthless: Trust requires faith in the Truth- and truth in faith.   

On President Trump’s Inauguration Day in January 2017 Time magazine printed its cover story in the same style it did exactly 50 years earlier.  Back then instead of their cover page being a picture of a person or important discovery it only had a thin red border around a solid black page - with just three words “Is God Dead”.   Its January 2017 the only change in the cover page was the three words.  “Is Truth Dead”.  Ironically, both cover stories asked vital questions related to humanities virtues and future.

Without truth the devolution of trust will continue dividing humanity.  This is unsustainable!  Distrust breeds separation.  This is not new.  For a millennium most human minds have increasingly separated humanity from nature and other groups.  Now it separates us from each other and even our body’s health.  Too many people ignore their body’s immune system until too late.  Yet it is arguably our body’s first line of defense against humanities greatest killer.  Pathogens have always been, and they remain so today.  Oddly, the 100 trillion microbes on and in our body make up that first line of defense protecting our inner homeostasis (healthy balance).   Our mind’s beliefs must stop undermining this self-evident truth. 

Upon reading Time’s 2017 cover page my mind jumped to the answered...No!  Then came the remembrance of ‘self-evident truths’.   And the phrase “We hold these Truths to be self-evident”.   Then I read the Declaration of Independence again.  Most Americans know its most popular phrase “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” and remember fundamental truth of these “certain unalienable Rights”.  In my world view 30 other such rights are listed in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.   And these would need to be added to our U.S. Constitution if Americans were ever going to have “liberty and justice for all”.  Two fundamental elements needed and that every American has pledged before our flag hundreds of times.  But rarely ever work for.   American minds have persisted in ignoring this pledge.

But our mind’s thoughts determine most of our body’s feelings.  We might feel patriotic.  But such deceptive thoughts can lead our bodies to do many things with consequences that will not end well.   Wars, genocide, conspiracy theories, political polarization, and even to violence within our own nation, community, or family.   And contribute to other preventable, undesirable, unhealthy, and even lethal consequences, like depression, suicide, drug addiction, or obesity.

Jesus said, “the Truth will set you free”.    This spiritual truth is NOT on our mind.  Instead, our mind holds multiple untruths.  Concepts we have learned over time withing a culture or society that lacked a truthful view of reality.    

The most fundamental truth is that the mind is basically a tool that evolved in all human brains.  It evolved as the most advanced problem-solving tool on this planet.   It kept our human family and tribe alive and thriving.  It’s also true that all of us are all born with the same unalienable human rights.   

Functionally and reasonably back then, our minds divided us into specific, different, or ambiguous identities.  These distinctions originally aided in the growth of our tribe or group.   And different beliefs or inventions within that group either helped or hindered its growth.  Unfortunately, that growth in population was often associated with the evolution or extinction of other group identities.   Another fundamental principle of life is adapt or perish.  Adaptation was essential to every group’s survival.  Over time, many didn’t adapt fast enough. 

But now, it is time for everyone to adapt to the reality we have always existed in.  We all live on the same planet, and it is our home planet for now, offering all our needs and wants...but only if we take care of its basic life support systems it has given us since creation.   And to make this mental adaptation we our species must recognize that we are all 99.9% the same genetically.  And that .1% difference in our DNA is often greater within our own identity group - that between many of the others.

Given the current pace of change and the evolution of weapons, war, and pathogens, we must adapt quickly.  Because “Everything is connected, everything is interdependent, so everything is vulnerable.... And that’s why this has to be a more than whole of government, a more than whole of nation [effort]. It really has to be a global effort....” Jen Easterly. CISA director.  Oct. 29, 2021. [the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency is our nation’s newest federal agency established by the Trump Administration in 2018].

In Thomas Paine’s Common Sense pamphlet printed Feb. 1776 he offered the fundamental truth that individuals need others to survive and thrive [independence is an illusion].  And we are not angels.  Thus, “the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here to is the design and end of government”  [maximizing]  “freedom and security”. 

This, however, is now unlikely in our world because it would mean speaking truth to power.  And speaking truth in some places could get someone arrested, imprisoned, tortured, or killed.  Without truth, governments information cannot be trusted.  And governments cannot trust other governments with information, simply because all governments are in constant competition to survive.   But without prioritizing the truth, that the protection of human rights and the environment is the most basic job of governments – how they function now is not unsustainable.  

Yes.  Alliances will form.  But without global unity in the fundamental purpose of government, they will continue to compete.  And their citizen masses will not be empowered to thrive in this inevitable shadow and competition, constant war, and growing debt none can sustainably afford.

In this light I now view the most important phrase in America’s declaration and war that separation us from the King.   And that declaration’s foundational reasoning or logic asserting ‘self-evident Truths’ can be found in the phrase “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” that came before those Truths.  

But the U.S. Constitution, created 11 years later has rarely codified and enforced any of these truths.  Thus, increasingly they have lost relevance.   And our persistent national prioritization of the U.S. Constitution and political parties over the freedoms and security “We the People” now for almost 250 years of elections and congresses we have still not achieved even one of the seven intentions in our U.S. Constitution’s preamble.  

Read’em and weep!  President Lincoln did.  And he called the Declaration our “Apple of Gold” and our Constitution its “Frame of Silver”.  He also said the Declaration was “for everyone, everywhere, for all time”.  

As a biologist, wrestler, and dancer I’ve learned and applied many fundamental principles about sustaining life, keeping things healthy, and the power of human agency that each of us have in our mind and body.  The power that is vital for forming and sustaining more perfect unions

As a biologist I grasp “the Laws of Nature”.  Religion I wrestled with in teaching Biology.  Until I discovered the one fundamental principle that every legitimate religion is founded on.  The golden rule! 

Now, sustaining life on this planet, and maybe humanity getting to other planets, is condensed into two simple ideals.  First, ‘take care of nature’, and second ‘take care of each other’.  Prioritizing these two simple but complicated task will empower our species with many opportunities to survive and thrive.   Another truth is that variations in our population is a “strength”.  Many minds must learn to ‘adapt’ to this reality or risk the survival of our species, or their particular clan.

The term “Truth Decay” was first introduced in the context of diminishing reliance on facts in public discourse by the RAND Corporation in their 2018 report titled “Truth Decay: An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life.” Authored by Jennifer Kavanagh and Michael D. Rich, this report examines the increasing disagreement about facts, the blurring of lines between opinion and fact, the rise of opinion over fact, and declining trust in respected sources of factual information.

While the phrase “truth decay” may have appeared in other contexts prior to their publication, the 2018 RAND report is recognized for formally defining and analyzing the phenomenon as it pertains to contemporary societal and political issues.

In a new book “The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust.  Francis S. Collins, MD  C-SPAN interview   https://www.c-span.org/video/?538398-1/qa-francis-collins

Doctor Collins already knew the fundamental principles of life.  And that trust is based on truth, and science is the best means of seeking for truths.  I’m certain he would agree with the objective truth that Neil deGrasse Tyson suggested is the most universal truth.  It will continue to be far more reliable in building a global consensus given the vast number of different truths people have regarding their personal religious truths and their political truths.

But even Albert Einstein recognized the fundamental importance of both science and religion.  “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”, 1941.  

Science discovers what we can do.  Religion offers the ultimate reason for doing it.  With the capacity for every technology and spoken word capable of being used to either serve humanities needs or to murder us in mass numbers, we will need religions to walk their talk on the Golden Rule.  A fundamental truth linking the human mind and heart with devotion to a higher purpose – taking care of nature and each other.

The first question the C-Span interviewer asked Dr. Collins is about a bible verse ‘Mathew, Chapter 22, verse 37.  “And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” 

Mathew Chapter 22, vs 37-39 “And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  It’s very clear that God did not want us just to be creatures of our emotions and other motivations (sex? Money?  Power?).  And the biblical the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel in in Genesis chapter 32:22–32), the angel is identified as God in other passages.

This ‘wrestling’ match was a significant event in Jacob's life that culminated in him being renamed Israel, meaning “he who struggles with God” or “God prevails.”  This can be seen as a moment of transformation, fulfilling Jacob’s desire to gain a new identity.  One that aligned with divine purpose and integrity.    It can also be interpreted as a symbolically profound inner struggle between Jacob’s mind and his body's feelings. 

From a psychological and spiritual perspective, Jacob may have been wrestling with his Identity and Guilt.  Because in much of his life he was a deceiver.  He took his brother Esau’s birthright and blessing through trickery.  This grappling event could represent an internal reckoning, with his struggling in coming to terms with who he was and who he wanted to become.  Almost all of us do this early in life.  

And/or it could have been Jacob’s fear of confrontation.  At this time Jacob was about to meet Esau after years of estrangement. He likely feared retribution and had to confront his own anxiety and the consequences of his past actions. Something we all do frequently in our own relationships with people and increasingly the environment.

I believe this desire is in each of us to find a purpose.  And for the transformation is our hearts so we can feel the suffering of others and help them.   And no longer be dominated by mental beliefs inconsistent with the world we see around us.   Instead of our mind creating its own ‘reality’ that often leads us to suffer.  And instead, use our mind’s inherent intellect and logic to benefit others instead of persisting in defending a variety of flawed beliefs or unique identities that causes suffering an even death in others with different identities.   Identities that our mind ‘sees’ as a threat to its own cherished identity or flawed beliefs. 

Unfortunately, we are evolutionary hard wiring to conserve energy.  And changing a belief is not easy.   We must learn to be the landlord of our mind.   Insist it solves problems related to harming nature or each other.

Finally, Jacob’s wrestling could symbolize his struggle to understand and accept his role in God’s plan.  A test of his faith, persistence, and willingness to engage directly with the divine given his limited time on earth.  This is often a struggle with faith and purpose that nearly every person hopes for. 

The founding fathers of our nation had a different definition of happiness than we have today.  They believed it was finding our bliss in using our strengths in best serving our communities or humanity’s needs.  We all want to make a difference.  That’s why we are here.

In essence, we will often have intense inner battles.  A struggle with forgiveness, understanding complex issues, or seeking a level of self-realization that may ultimately lead to a deeper relationship with others, nature, or our own passing.