To light up our images we need to understanding the meaning of the story we are paying attention too. The deepest level of meaning is the Truth level. My argument is that we are loosing the words in our English language that convey meaning because there is a push by naturalists to argue that there is no meaning to life. Therefore, in their minds, meaning words are useless, or worst, deceptive.
So I will attempt to answer the question that Pilot asked of Jesus, “What is truth?”
For most, truth is a set of principles one comes to believe. The Declaration of the Independence begins this way, “We hold these truths to be self evident…”
Truths are something we believe or don’t believe. They always come as a choice rather than as an argument. You can reason you way to a truth or make bargains with a truth. They only way to acquire them is to believe in them. As such a “truths” origin then must be from God, or as the Declaration of Independence says, endowed by their Creator.
Truths are ideals like Peace, Justice, Freedom, Equality, and Honesty. They set a high moral mark that we strive to achieve. Underlying all action is a belief or a conflict with a Universal Truth.
Cultures around the world believe in similar truths but will arrange them in different hierarchies. Canada traditionally will value Peace higher than Freedom although it values both. The United States will value Freedom more than Peace although it too values both. Yet placing them into different priorities will lead to radically different behavior. The unique ordering of values is what we call culture.
Interestingly enough, Christ founded a new culture in the world known as the Kingdom of God in which for the first time and the only time in human a history the value of Agape Love was placed at the top of the hierarchy followed by faith and hope. No nation before, or since has arranged their values systems in the same way making the Kingdom of God a cultural movement in the world for the past two thousand years.
When looking for truths in your narrative look at the relationships of the characters in your scene and what issues are present in those relationships. Almost always a great universal truth or two are in conflict with the character and his expectations about how life should work. What is that truth that even your character may not understand?
I hope this helps you to understand what truth is and move you to discover even greater truth in your writing. Someday we have a talk about the revolutionary idea that Christ brought, that all truth is not just a principle or idea, but an actual person with a will of its own and power of its own. The implications of that will be really interesting to explore with you.
Till then, keep writing my fellow Scop’s, keep writing…
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