Loving Truth

A friend once observed that all the greatest physicists were lovers of humanity.

Imagine that ideas are little angels. Used constructively, ideas are anchored to objects and processes that allow them to extend their influence. Look at Washington, D.C. and you see the realization of the ideas of Socrates, John Locke, and the Founders. Used destructively, ideas generate chaos that erases the proof of their existence. The bomb leaves only a smoking crater.

From this, we may understand why truth takes refuge with God. As John explains in his gospel, God is love. He seeks all truth because it is necessary to the understanding that empowers Him to heal us of our separation from Love. In return, truth takes refuge with Him because it knows it will not be distorted for selfish aims.

So when Jesus testified that He was the Truth, the Light, and the Way, this is what He meant. It was not that He was the only truth that mattered, but that His Light calls Truth to Him. To understand the deepest truths, you must submit to His Way: the easy yoke of love and light burden of joining in caring reciprocity for the world.

You may look for truth on the internet, but you will find it only if you seek with love in your heart. Even on Wikipedia, authors compete to ensure that only THEIR version of the truth is represented.

Remember that the Holy Spirit was the original “world-wide web.” It asks nothing of us other than what serves the purposes of love, and grants to us all the knowledge that serves that purpose.

When I took AP Biology in high school, the teacher professed her concern that we were not working hard enough. After the results came in, she announced that our class had achieved better results than any of our predecessors. She realized that we had “worked together.”

Yes, there was a moment during the test when I skipped over an question that I couldn’t answer. After completing the exam, I heard a friend’s voice in my head: “Go back to that question. We think this is the answer…”

God has answers to all our problems. We just need to ask together, rather than thinking first of ourselves.