Hierarchy of Truth: Relationship with Truth, Itself

The general idea in Sacramental Theology is that we have the ability progress in the Hierarchy of Truth. How does one progress in the Hierarchy of Truth? How does one move from what they can determine to be Subjective Truth to what is Objective Truth? For one who wishes to know that which is Truer than previously considered one must gain more knowledge. If I am in the Pit, in order to learn the Objective Truth of the Pit, I just need more knowledge. But what if I have reached my limit of how much I can see or experience? What if my flashlight cannot illuminate any farther? What if I have climbed as far as possible? In order to know more about the Pit, I need the help of someone who has gotten farther than I have. I need to be in some sort of a relationship with that person or persons.  For example, to use one’s senses to observe the world is to acquiesce to knowledge outside of oneself or one’s ego. In order to develop a greater understanding of Truth which is higher on the Hierarchy, I must enter into a relationship with one who has access to that greater Truth. If a student wishes to know more about mathematics they must develop a relationship with one who has already encountered that particular knowledge. That teacher, then, in terms of mathematics at least, is at a higher level in the Hierarchy of Truth. The only way one can grow in knowledge or Truth, then, is through some sort of relationship, either with the knowledge itself or with one who possesses that knowledge. In the Pit, I need someone who has a better flashlight; I need someone who can see better; I need someone higher up in the Pit.

Cathedral of the Plains, St. Fidelis Catholic Church, Liberty, Kansas (Photo Credit: P. Smith)

This is where it gets more theological. If I seek Truth that is beyond human comprehension, I cannot directly encounter that knowledge the same way a student could potentially learn mathematics on their own. An encounter with one who has access to all knowledge, then, is essential for an individual to have any such access to Objective Truth. In Christianity, ultimately, the goal is Truth, and if Truth is only gained through relationship with Truth itself or through relationship with one who knows Truth, then it is relationship with one who is eternal that allows for such access to Truth. That is a mouthful. I translate it for my students. I want Truth outside the Pit; I cannot get outside the Pit, myself; I need a relationship with someone already outside the Pit in order to get that Truth. Christianity claims, simply, that God is both the Truth and the one who knows the Truth. God is the one outside the Pit. Therefore, it is relationship with God that provides access to Truth.

Hierarchy of Truth and Relationship Outside of the Pit

The general idea in Sacramental Theology that we have the ability progress in the Hierarchy of Truth. How does one progress in the Hierarchy of Truth? How does one move from what they can determine to be Subjective Truth to what is Objective Truth? For one who wishes to know that which is Truer than previously considered one must gain more knowledge. If I am in the Pit, in order to learn the Objective Truth of the Pit, I just need more knowledge. But what if I have reached my limit of how much I can see or experience? What if my flashlight cannot illuminate any farther? What if I have climbed as far as possible? In order to know more about the Pit, I need the help of someone who has gotten farther than I have. I need to be in some sort of a relationship with that person or persons. For example, to use one’s senses to observe the world is to acquiesce to knowledge outside of oneself or one’s ego. In order to develop a greater understanding of Truth which is higher on the Hierarchy, I must enter into a relationship with one who has access to that greater Truth. If a student wishes to know more about mathematics they must develop a relationship with one who has already encountered that particular knowledge. That teacher, then, in terms of mathematics at least, is at a higher level in the Hierarchy of Truth. The only way one can grow in knowledge or Truth, then, is through some sort of relationship, either with the knowledge itself or with one who possesses that knowledge. In the Pit, I need someone who has a better flashlight; I need someone who can see better; I need someone higher up in the Pit.

St. Fidelis Catholic Cathedral, Victoria, KS. St. Cecilia Rose Window (P. Smith)

This is where it gets more theological. If I seek Truth that is beyond human comprehension I cannot directly encounter that knowledge the same way a student could potentially learn mathematics on their own. An encounter with one who has access to all knowledge, then, is essential for an individual to have any such access to Objective Truth. In Christianity, ultimately, the goal is Truth, and if Truth is only gained through relationship with Truth itself or through relationship with one who knows Truth, then it is relationship with one who is eternal that allows for such access to Truth. That is a mouthful. I translate it for my students. I want Truth outside the Pit; I cannot get outside the Pit, myself; I need a relationship with someone already outside the Pit in order to get that Truth. Christianity claims, simply, that God is both the Truth and the one who knows the Truth. God is the one outside the Pit. Therefore, it is relationship with God that provides access to Truth.

Hierarchy of Truth: Objective Truth and Moral Relativism

          Comparing and contrasting Truths can be a difficult process as Truths relate to and build upon each other. Philosophy teaches us that Truth is only Truth if it is consistent with itself. All things that are claimed to be True are only such if they bolster or are bolstered by other Truths. A subjective Truth or a Truth based on individual perception and judgment is essential for an individual given that person’s context or their given state. That is, as one determines Truth based on given material observations, the fact that one is seeking Truth suggests a progression of Truth. Essentially, if one claims a subjective Truth based upon given observable data, they are also claiming that a previous Truth to them was insufficient or incomplete. This also suggests a progression of Truth as one becomes more aware of data or information. Theoretically, then, if one is aware of all available data or information, they can claim a Truth that is Truer or the Truest. This Hierarchy of Truth further suggests that if one were to consider all knowledge, both material and theist, both temporal and eternal, both inside and outside the dimensions of time and space, then one would have access to Truth that is on the highest echelon of the Hierarchy of Truth. Philosophy, then, concludes that Subjective Truth is valuable most appropriately in how it positively relates to Objective Truth.

            Teaching this can be tricky. Relativism, essentially claims that there is no Objective Truth because Objective Truth cannot be directly observed. I teach this a few different ways. The first is to simply tell the students to assume objective Truth to exist, regardless of direct observation. To be honest, this is the best way to get students to buy into the concept of objective Truth and the concept of Objective Truth being superior to any other kinds of Truth. As they assume the concept and as I continue to teach the philosophy, my students inductively learn the necessity of Objective Truth. Really, relativism seems childish after just a reflections on this concept. If students refuse to assume this to be True, even if it is just a logical exercise, I use the Pit Analogy. All subjective Truths are Truths based on observable data inside the Pit. As we increase in our ability to see the Pit around us, we also increase in our understanding of the Truth of the Pit. As that knowledge increases, so does our openness to greater Truths. I use this image to make the argument “What if we made our way outside the Pit? Wouldn’t we then have better knowledge of the Truth of the Pit? Isn’t that knowledge or Truth superior to what we had before or what people in the Pit are limited to now?” This lesson can start to click, although I have to remind myself that my students and our culture is so embroiled and invested in fixation on material, relative, and subjective Truth that just because they can define these terms does not mean then believe this philosophy. I have to repeat this to myself a million times a day before it can become a default ideology; if my students want to believe anything I am teaching, they will have to remind themselves a million times a day also.

(Enjoying the sun and the garden.)

Who Am I? The Beginning of Sacramental Vision

I am careful not to simply describe material or subjective Truth as useless or as being distractions from what is important. Many theology teachers think this is a good way to get students to focus on the objective Truths of God’s Love for us. If you know anything about theology and early Christian heresies, you recognize this sort of anti-material Truth as a type of Gnosticism, which, of course, is completely contrary to most Christian theologies. Further, to completely negate material or subjective Truths as having any value is also telling students and yourself that your feelings and desires and passions, as they are effectively material, are invalid and worthless in light of objective Truth. That is a quick way to lose students. Instead, I teach students that material Truths or subjective Truths are powerfully important, but as I describe in terms of the Hierarchy of Truth, they are only important in how they can orient us toward greater Truths. That is, material and subjective Truths are important, but only as they relate to more objective or transcendent Truths. This is the basis of Sacramentality or Sacramental Vision.

(Majestic Puppy. Mt. Evans)

Who Am I? My Authentic Self and the Beauty of Material Truth

I am going to start with a basic claim that the Authentic Self, the goal of “finding myself” is impossible to achieve using just episteme. We cannot plan the path to the Authentic Self. The Authentic Self, if we are to assume it is living out the image and likeness of God, must be transcendent in its fullness. And as the transcendent is beyond the dimensions of time and space, episteme knowledge is not enough in order to “find myself”. There is more. What a horrible trick it seems God is playing on us! What a horrible trap! We are material and limited to time and space, ourselves, yet we desire to “find” that which is beyond our means! God seems to be that teacher who gives a test, and most of the questions on the test were never covered in class. It is impossible to pass that kind of a test. But Christianity assumes a few things to be True about God. First, God is Agapically Loving and desires us to experience that Agapic Love. That Love is what will, ultimately, make us happy. Second, God creates the material world and calls it “good”. There must be something good about material epistemology, and in order for it to be good, it must relate to Truth that is more than any good we could comprehend or imagine. The Truth of this material world must, somehow, relate to the telos of God’s goodness and God’s Love…and our True image and likeness. So, we can assume that material Truth of this world is, first, not an end to itself, but rather, a sign pointing to something greater. The material Truth of this world needs to be seen, not in terms of how it relates to us as humans, but how it reveals the image and likeness of God. This is Sacramentality and Sacramental Vision. In this Pit of the material world, Sacramentality and Sacramental Vision invites us to look at everything around us as ropes or packages revealing God’s desire for us to Trust Him... to be happy through a relationship with Him. The material Truths around us, if we view them rightly, can direct our vision to the One who Created all of it and called it “good.” In time, maybe we can start to look at the people around us as more than just material, too, and we can see all people as Sacramental and “very good”.

(Majestic Puppy)

Who Am I? My Authentic Self and Accidental Humility?

My neuropsychiatrist told me later that they estimated I had lost up to ten points in my IQ. Practically speaking, after my senior year in high school, I had lost almost an entire point on my GPA (my senior year GPA was 3.2, the lowest it has ever been). I had trouble processing and retaining information. Severe migraines continue to complicate things for me, including relationships, athletics, and confidence. At one point in my fall semester after the seizure, I was on the verge of dropping out of school because things that had come so easy to me just a few months before were now near impossible. A Beloved English teacher reassured me and basically saved me from dropping out of school. When I spoke to another neuropsychiatrist the spring of my senior year he looked at my grades and my medical report and told me flatly that if he had seen me the previous June or July, he would have recommended that I not go back to school. He seemed surprised that anyone was able to do as well as I had done following so massive an event. I turned to my mom and said, “Does this mean I can take a year off before I go to college?”

I pause here when I tell my students this. “Do not tell you parents that Mr. Smith gave you permission to drop out of school or to not go directly to college!” I have to cover myself. “Do remember that you are being taught by someone with three college degrees; if you fail at something or if you suffer some sort of setback, remember that if your stupid theology teacher can come back, so can you!” I reassure my students that if they are willing to be patient with themselves and if they are willing to let other people help them, they can recover from those setbacks.

Before you go and say that I took a year off to “discover who I was”, just stop it! I was taking the year off to get healthy. I definitely told people that I was taking the year off to “find myself”, but, really, I just wanted to rest and recover. It sounds like it was an easy decision. But let me put it this way; I was a good student with a lot of gifts. Everyone in my family went to college, and all of my classmates were college-bound the summer after we graduated. I am not sure if there was a single person that I knew that had ever take a year off before going to college. I was supposed to go to college and become a famous cosmologist! Instead of going away to college, though, I settled in my parents’ basement. I think of this as “forced humility”. But it was in that humility that I was actually able to begin the long process to “find myself”, although not intentionally.

Reflecting on that year (half as a year, as it would turn out), and thinking in terms of theological or Christian Anthropology, I did begin to “find myself” in that humility. Remember, if God is self-gift or humility, then to act in humility is to live out the image and likeness in which we are created. I lived in my parents’ basement! Do I need to say anything else? All respects to millennials who are in their 20’s and living in their parents’ basement, but I was supposed to be in college! I even had a chance to be playing baseball in college, making new friends, learning new stuff, and working toward being the next great theoretical physicist. Maybe I was a bit full of myself. Maybe I was being punished for my hubris. Or maybe I was just being invited to be humble…to be more like what we are all made to be. Maybe I was “finding myself,” albeit in a way I did not plan.

(He watches over the garden sometimes.)

Who Am I? Discovering the Authentic Self: Seizure

Let me be clear, I went to Mass when I was in high school, not because I really wanted to, but because I was mostly habituated into the practice. The last time I probably received the Eucharist when I was a teenager was maybe 8^th grade, at my Confirmation. Even though I didn’t go to Communion, I still went to Mass. I think the habit helped me to keep my teenager idiot brain open to the possibility that there was more going on at Mass than just automatic ritual. Still, as a teenager, I was convinced that if I could not prove something with material evidence, then it cannot be True. If God was outside of provability, then God can’t exist. To be fair, I was balanced with my judgment; I equally proclaimed that until I went to California, California did not exist…to me. Mid-1990’s teenager relativism at its finest. To this day, though, I have no idea why I decided to receive the Eucharist at Mass that Sunday morning of my first seizure. Maybe it was in response following a day and a half of being bed-ridden. Maybe there was some sort of mystical knowledge I had gained in my sickly stupor. Maybe I was still delirious. I do not know. But I do remember coming home after that Mass and being excited about having received the Eucharist. I spoke to one of my classmates, a fellow Catholic, partly to say goodbye before she left on a month-long trip to France, but mostly I wanted to talk to her about having gone to Mass and having received the Eucharist. I also called my girlfriend, a non-Catholic and Truly Beautiful person, to let her know that I was feeling much better than I had felt the last few days, and to tell her about the Mass. I was on the porch outside my house, talking on the phone when my hand began to tremor. I remember telling my girlfriend over the phone that my hand was shaking. I was laughing because it was something I had never experienced. Everything went black.

I remember bits and pieces from that week. I remember being loaded onto an ambulance in front of my house. I remember trying to explain to a group of doctors what happened to me and not being able to make sense (the trauma caused severe aphasia). I remember a doctor attempting to give me a lumbar puncture (a spinal tap) and missing seven times while my mother looked on. (I was so high on Dilantin that I felt nothing and only laughed). I remember being visited by a few priests and a ton of friends. But what I remember the most, ironically, is forgetting so much. I forgot names and phone numbers. I forgot how I knew people. I forgot how to do some simple math. I forgot how to spell names. I forgot so many things that I had taken for granted. Simple things.
            I don’t mean to brag, but I had a GPA of 4.1 my Junior year in high school. And that was probably the hardest year, academically, that I have ever had in my school career. I’m totally kidding! I do like to brag about that! I’m proud of how smart I was. Everything came easy for me in school. I barely studied, but I could get good grades. Finishing my Junior year, I was just hitting my stride as a student. I got an “A” in pre-Calculus, the first time I ever did that well in a math class (and the last time, as it would turn out). I did well on my SAT’s, and I was somewhere in the top 3% on the list of National Merit Scholars. I was an athlete, a boy scout, and I was popular. I had a Beautiful girlfriend, and everything was going perfectly form me. Then I had the seizure.

(I have never known a dog to Love pillows so much.)