I have been reading and talking on line to my classmates about a book we read called: Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. It has been an interesting read about the metaphors we live by. Success is up and failure is down are directional metaphors. We often speak about our mind as a machine metaphor: My mind isn't operating..., I'm a little rusty today...
By the time you are well in to the book you realize how often we use metaphors when we speak. Chapter 24 is titled "Truth". "Truth is relative to understanding" pg 162. Think about that. If I say what I believe to be the truth and I use some kind of a metaphor as I speak - you will find truth in what I say if you have the same understanding of the metaphor I have used. Even a simple sentence like: "John fired the gun at Harry" depends on us understanding who John and Harry are, what it means to fire a gun and what a gun is.
Even in my family there are many truthful versions of the story of our family. They are each one different. And each one of them is the truth from their perspective.
Think about the church. How do the leaders of the church determine the truth of where the church has been in the past? Where the church is currently? and where the church should go in the future? Communicating and determining truth can be difficult at best.
If there is a conflict in the church it is easy to understand how many different versions there are of the truth and how difficult it can be to resolve conflict.
This book causes me to be very careful when I think I know the truth and when I listen to others share their version of the truth. Good luck finding the ultimate truth.
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