Alternative Facts and the Search for God
My wife, Amparo, answered the phone and a pleasant female voice said, “Hi. Since you’ve stayed in our resort, I want to let you know that….” Amparo hung up.
It was, of course, a telephone solicitor.
I imagine that in training telephone solicitors, instructors teach them how to put the customer at ease with an informal, friendly greeting, trying to establish rapport; then, by saying that you’ve stayed in their resort, establishing familiarity.
And while you’re trying to remember what resort you’ve stayed in, “the voice” is proceeding to a sales pitch. Even if you don’t buy, she’s at least managed to keep you on the line longer than you would if you realized from the outset that it was a solicitation.
A Form of Lying
Why do we find telephone solicitation distasteful? Because the use of deception is a form of lying. But it’s one to which we’ve become all too accustomed in politics, advertising and sales and many other aspects of daily life. “Drive the all-new Honda CR-V…..” Does it still have a steering wheel? Tires? Windows? Then it’s not “all new.”
We’ve become so accustomed to this kind of “exaggeration” we don’t even recognize it as such. And this brings me to the idea of “alternative facts” and the importance of honesty in the search for God.
First, a disclaimer. This blog is not about politics. The term “alternative facts” has become a matter of public debate in a political context, leading to my thoughts about honesty and truthfulness. But those are important qualities for people of any or no political parties.
In his book, “Who Needs God?” which I’ve recently quoted extensively, Rabbi Harold Kushner quotes Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, who said, “In telling a lie, the spirit commits treason against itself.”
An awful lot of self-treason is being committed today, it seems. There may be nothing new about widespread lying, but its extent should be no reason for people searching for God to accept it. We distort and exaggerate, often justifying it by expecting it from others. And we lie to ourselves maybe even more than to each other.
If there is more lying nowadays, it may have its foundation in philosophy – which, believe it or not, still influences us through the media, art, literature and politics. Many today, philosophers and others, question the existence of absolute truth, saying that truth is relative, that there is “your truth” and “my truth.”
But unless there is such a thing as absolute truth, we have no standing to criticize anyone for lying, for exaggerating or for deceptive advertising. I believe most people searching for God understand this.
If they are anxious about their perceived lack of faith, for instance, it’s because they care about the truth. In fact, though we may lie often, I think it’s basic to the human psyche to care about the truth,
But we can’t use “absolute truth” as a sledge hammer over people and ideas. Pope Francis made this point in an interview a couple of years ago with Eugenio Scalfari, a self-professed atheist who is co-founder of Italy’s La Rupubblica newspaper.
Can’t Be Lived Abstractly
“We cannot speak of ‘absolute truth’ in the sense that truth is untied from everything else and deprived of any relation,” said Francis. For Christians, he said, “truth is relative in that I must accept the Gospel for myself and express it in my own language, history, and culture. It cannot be lived out abstractly but only in the concrete situations of my life.”
Cynicism about the truth, by the way, isn’t new. Those familiar with the story of Jesus’ trial in the Gospel of John may recall that Jesus tells Pontius Pilate, who condemned Jesus to death, that Jesus’ mission is “to bear witness to the truth.”
Pilate answers, “What is truth?” Implicit is that the truth is whatever Pilate says it is, a notion with which many people – including politicians and leaders – would agree.
I acknowledge that in a world full of change – indeed, one that requires change – it’s hard to imagine anything “absolute.” But truth is an abstract idea on whose meaning we, as individuals and a society, must agree for the world to function.
It’s an especially crucial concept for people searching for God because a search for God is basically a search for truth. Honesty, especially to one’s self, is required. In this search, there are no “alternative facts.”
