The Slippery Slope of What Is True vs. What Is Real
One of the peculiar problems of living in a postmodern age is that we are surrounded by more information than any generation in history, yet we sometimes seem less certain about what is real and what is true. We can watch the same event on three television networks, read about it on five websites, and come away wondering whether everyone was describing the same thing. Somewhere between fact, interpretation, experience, and opinion, identifying truth and reality can get a little slippery.
It may help to begin by distinguishing what is real from what is true. What is real generally refers to what actually exists or has actually happened. A tree is real. A war is real. Hunger, grief, love, injustice, and death are real experiences. Truth, however, involves the meaning or claim we make about that reality. Reality is what is there; truth is our attempt to describe, understand, and sometimes interpret what is there.
Human beings have always had a remarkable ability to mix observation with interpretation. Postmodernism merely gave the process a name. That distinction becomes especially important in postmodern culture because postmodernism has taught us—often helpfully—to be suspicious of claims that anyone possesses a completely objective view of reality. We all see life through lenses formed by family, education, religion, culture, politics, personal experience, and even our wounds and disappointments. None of us approaches reality as a completely neutral observer.
But acknowledging perspective does not require us to conclude that there is no truth. The fact that several people see the same event differently does not mean the event never happened. Five witnesses to an automobile accident may give five somewhat different accounts, but there was still only one accident.
Our modern problem is that we sometimes substitute conviction for evidence. We seem to think that if we say something loudly enough—or type it in CAPITAL LETTERS—it somehow becomes more true. Social media has perfected this technique. Unfortunately, enthusiasm is not evidence, and the number of “likes” something receives has never been a reliable test of reality.
The challenge, then, is to test our understanding rather than simply declare, “That is my truth.” Personal experience matters, but experience alone cannot determine truth. We should ask: What are the facts? What evidence supports this claim? Are there reliable witnesses? Does the explanation correspond with what actually happened? Am I willing to consider evidence that challenges what I already believe?
There is also a moral dimension to truth. Some things may be real without being good. Hatred is real. Racism is real. Violence is real. Betrayal is real. Their existence does not make them morally true or worthy of acceptance. In this sense, truth involves not only describing reality but asking what reality ought to become.
For Christians, there is another important consideration. Truth is not merely an intellectual proposition but something ultimately grounded in the character of God. Jesus does not simply claim to know truth; in John 14:6 he says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Christian truth, therefore, should produce humility rather than arrogance. If truth belongs ultimately to God, none of us should behave as though we have God completely figured out. Whenever we become absolutely certain that God agrees with us on everything, it may be time to become just a little suspicious of ourselves.
Perhaps the postmodern task is not to abandon truth, but to vigorously pursue it more humbly. We recognize our biases, listen carefully to others, examine evidence, remain willing to correct ourselves and admit we can be wrong, and distinguish what we feel from what we know. Reality may sometimes be uncomfortable, and truth may sometimes challenge us.
In a noisy world where everybody has an opinion, everybody has a microphone, and apparently everybody has become an expert on everything, perhaps wisdom begins with two simple questions: What is really happening here? And what is true about it?
Grace and peace,
Dick Ihfe
A Seeker of Truth
