Truth - Part One - Consequences of Claiming Absolute Truth

What is "truth"? What is "absolute truth"? What is the origin from which the concept or the idea of "absolute" truth stems? This is an important topic as many people who read the ideas on this blog are reading with the intent to be exposed to ideas but at the same time to gain some insight that is believed to be "truth".

I am going to start by looking at truth in two ways. The first way addresses simply the idea of "Absolute Truth" and why I believe that it exists but is not absolutely knowable. THe second way looks at truth as an object which is viewed from different frameworks or windows, if you will, each of which sheds light on some component of truth.

I recently read a book called the Kite Runner, below you will find a passage from this book in which a member from the Taliban expounds on an experience motivated from the perspective of having special knowledge of absolute truth. I include this passage because I believe it demonstrates in intangible ways the unanticpated dangers in claiming an absolute truth. I will comment more on this in an upcoming blog.

"We left them out for the dogs, you know." I saw what he was getting at. He stood up, paced around the sofa once, twice. Sat down again. He spoke rapidly. "door to door we went, calling for the men and the boys. We'd shoot them right there in front of their families. Let them see. Let them remember who they were, where they belonged. He was almost panting now. "Sometimes, we broke down their doors and went inside their homes. And...I'd...I'd sweep the barrel of my machine gun around th etroom and fire and fire until the smoke blinded me." He leaned toward me, like man asbout to share a great secret. "you don't know the meaning of the 'liberating' until you've done that, stood in a roomful of targets, let the bullets fly, free of guilt and remorse, know you are virtuous, good, and decent. Knowing you're doing God's work. It's breathtaking. " He hissed the prayer beads, tilted his head. "You remember that Javid?"

"Yes, Agha sahib," the yonger of the guards replied. "How could I forget?"

Door-to-door. We only rested for food and prayer, " the Talib said. He said it fondly, like a man telling of a great party he'd attended. "We left the bodies in the streets for days. We left them for the dogs. Dog meat for dogs."