The Framework of Two Truths
The idea of the "two truths" provides a powerful framework for understanding reality. These truths represent two layers of our experience: relative truth, which relates to our everyday perceptions of the world, and absolute truth, the underlying nature of reality, irrespective of our individual perceptions.
Relative Truth
Relative truth is our personalized understanding of the world, molded by our senses, emotions, and cognitions. Imagine navigating a city using a map. This map, albeit helpful, is a condensed depiction. It highlights key landmarks and routes, but omits myriad nuances. The cartographer's choices determine its content. In the same vein, our daily perceptions resemble this map, being deeply swayed by our beliefs, biases, past experiences, and cultural backgrounds—reflecting the inherent constraints of our limited perspective in an expansive universe.
For example, if you're driving and someone cuts you off, your immediate response might be anger. You may perceive the other driver's action as a deliberate act of rudeness—that's your relative truth. However, this truth is subjective, derived from your interpretation of the event.
Absolute Truth
Absolute truth, on the other hand, resembles viewing the city from a helicopter. From this perspective, you see the actual city in all its complexity, not just the simplified representation on the map. In life, this means seeing situations as they truly are, devoid of our personal biases, judgments, and emotional reactions.
In the context of our example, recognizing the absolute truth might involve realizing that the other driver's actions are just physical movements of vehicles, devoid of intent until interpreted through your perspective. Any anger you feel arises from your interpretation, not the action itself.
Navigating these two truths skillfully is crucial for cultivating inner peace. You don't want to become so engrossed in your map (relative truth) that you're consumed by emotions and personal drama. Conversely, you don't want to become so immersed in the helicopter view (absolute truth) that you disregard your own or others' feelings and experiences.
By understanding and applying the concept of the two truths, you can see that much of your distress comes from your interpretations of events, rather than the events themselves. This realization offers you the power to change those interpretations, reducing suffering and promoting peace.
Two Truths and Our Senses
Let's take the realm of sound as a unique example.
Relative truth: Human beings can typically hear frequencies between 20 and 20,000 Hertz. Sounds within this range form part of our everyday reality: the chatter of voices, the rustling of leaves, and the hum of a car engine. We rely on these sounds for communication, safety, and enjoyment.
For example, suppose you're in a park, and you hear a bird singing. Your human ears perceive this bird song within a certain frequency range. You identify it as a bird based on your previous experiences and knowledge, and you might find the sound beautiful and calming, or you might find it annoying if you're trying to concentrate on something else.
Absolute truth: However, this audible reality is not the full picture of the sonic world. Many animals can hear frequencies that are inaudible to humans. Dogs can perceive higher-pitched sounds, elephants can detect lower frequencies, and bats navigate their environment using ultrasonic frequencies. So, the bird in the park is producing a range of frequencies, but you're only capable of hearing a portion of them. The sound is not just the "bird song" you perceive—it's a complex array of frequencies, only some of which are within your hearing range.
It's important to realize that a bird's song doesn't have an inherent quality of being pleasant or unpleasant. It's our own unique preferences, expectations, and current emotional state that shapes our perception of it.
By understanding both these truths, we can navigate life more effectively and peacefully.
On the one hand, we live in the world of relative truth, where we rely on our limited human hearing and our interpretations of sounds for practical purposes. On the other hand, recognizing the absolute truth reminds us of the limitations of our perceptions, the complexity of reality beyond our senses, and the subjectivity of our judgments.This perspective can help us to be more open, flexible, and understanding, leading to greater inner peace. This approach can be applied to all 5 of our senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.
How Things Are & How Things Seem
the parable of the blind men and the elephant is an excellent example of the two truths - how things seem (relative truth) and how things are (absolute truth).
How things seem (relative truth): In the story, a group of blind men encounter an elephant for the first time and each man touches a different part of the animal. One feels the tusk and concludes that the elephant is like a spear. Another feels the trunk and believes the elephant is like a snake. A third touches the elephant's leg and asserts that it's like a tree. Each of the blind men is certain of their own perception and interpretation, and they argue intensely with each other, each believing they're in the right and the other is in the wrong.
This represents the relative truth, where we understand and describe the world based on our limited perspectives and experiences. Just like the blind men, we often believe our perception to be the absolute reality. We argue and fight based on these partial truths, causing stress, conflict, and suffering.
How things are (ultimate truth): The actual reality, the ultimate truth, is that the elephant is none of these things alone—it is a complex creature, far beyond the limited understanding of each blind man.Their individual perceptions are not wrong, but they are incomplete. They each touched a part of the truth, but none of them grasped the entirety of it.
In the context of our lives, the absolute truth suggests that our perceptions and interpretations, while valid and real in their own right, only capture a fraction of the whole picture.We should remember that our understanding is always partial and biased, shaped by our senses, experiences, and conditioning. The full reality is often more complex and nuanced than we perceive it to be.
Navigating between these two truths can lead to greater inner peace. Recognizing the relative truth helps us to understand and empathize with others' views, even when they differ from our own. Accepting the absolute truth encourages us to be humble, open-minded, and curious, always willing to expand and deepen our understanding of the world.
Key Takeaways
Understand the Distinction: Understanding the distinction between relative truth (our subjective experiences and interpretations of the world) and absolute truth (the objective nature of reality beyond our personal biases) is crucial. The example of how we perceive and react to criticism illustrates this concept well.
Balancing Act: It is important to balance these two truths. Getting lost in the relative truth can lead to unnecessary emotional turmoil, while overly focusing on the absolute truth can result in emotional detachment. The aim is to recognize that our personal distress often comes from our interpretations, not from events themselves.
Broaden Perception with our Senses: The lesson explains how our senses perceive reality in a certain way (relative truth), but that's not the complete reality (absolute truth). The example of the range of sounds humans can hear versus what other animals can perceive exemplifies this concept. Recognizing the limitations and subjectivity of our senses can make us more open-minded, patient, and peaceful.
How Things Seem vs. How Things Are: The parable of the blind men and the elephant illustrates how different perspectives (relative truths) can all be partially correct yet miss the full reality (absolute truth). Understanding this can help us to empathize with others' viewpoints, remain open to new information, and maintain peace amid differences.
Reduce Conflict and Increase Peace: By understanding the two truths, we can better navigate conflicts, reduce distress, and promote inner peace. We learn not to be swayed by our immediate emotional reactions (relative truth) and instead see situations from a broader, more objective perspective (absolute truth).