Where to Find Truths
I know one truth about Truth: it's not found where you think.
Where do you find truths? What is made-up?
Your first thought might be “Non-fiction is real. Fiction is not.” or “newspapers are real. Comic books aren’t.” At first glance, media seems to divide neatly into “true” or “not true.” We see two different buckets at opposite ends of a spectrum.
But there are many lies in what is “true” and many truths in what is “made-up.”
Truth doesn’t sit calmly on a clear spectrum, it hides in an ever-moving maze. Like a Pokemon.
I don’t claim Encyclopedias, Papers, and Newspapers do not have truth. They do. But They also contain some untruths. Untruths from a source of perceived truth are dangerous.
Fiction, art, or story can tell us deep, important truths. Great comedians tell truths no one else can, like George Carlin or Dave Chappelle. The truths we get from our heroes, villains, and jesters can be uniquely valuable.
I’ve heard very smart people say “I don’t read fiction. It’s made up. What good is that?”
Fiction can reveal truth, and here’s an example:
When Rene Girard conceived of Mimetic Theory, he wasn’t studying behaviors in lab studies on a college campus. He was reading the great literary works of western history. He noticed a fascinating pattern: compelling character desires always came from other characters. This observation was the beginning of Mimetic Theory. (Yes, I’ve been reading Wanting. It’s fantastic.)
Girard’s book is called Things Hidden Since The Foundation Of The World. This great truth was hidden in Russian novels, not the Encyclopedia.
Truths keep us from getting rekt. To collect all the truths we can (like a well-balanced roster of Pokemon) we have to be open-minded and unprecious about where to look. Get dirty. Get weird. Dumpster-dive and bush-beat.
“It's not what you don't know that kills you, it's what you know for sure that ain't true.“
- Mark Twain
To avoid letting non-truths into our happy herd, we must be deeply skeptical of truths conveniently labeled “TRUTH!”
News isn’t truth. The merchants of the truth are often wrong. If the news delivers your worldview, you could be catastrophically wrong. Every day, newspapers print corrections or adjustments to yesterday’s headlines. How often do you read the corrections? (And you never see a correction about how wrong they were one year or one decade ago.)
Even Science isn’t truth. Science is constantly attempting to make the gap between our understanding and the truth smaller. Throughout history, science has been untrue. Still today, science is just ‘our best guess.’ The truly prepared truth-seeker allows the possibility today’s science is untrue.
Early in my career, I was surprised to find successful hedge fund managers who had majored in philosophy, or venture capitalists who majored in history. It took me a while to (begin to) understand the depths of truth in these disciplines. They are strong foundations to build your understanding of this great web of interconnectedness.
When you have holes in your understanding of the world the size of the entire “fiction” genre… you’re running blind.
If you want to navigate life in an astonishingly successful way, you need to find a lot of truths. Truths are hidden all over, across time, geography, culture, and disciplines. Being a snob about your sources of truth is like amputating mental limbs.