Our world is trying to relativize the truth by making it more political, social, or opinionated versions of what seems to be necessary, important, and relevant. Furthermore, there are scientists who want to gain traction, popularity, remain cutting edge, and be relevant to the popular masses by blurring the line between what makes us unique in comparison to the animal world. While we recognize that some animals have higher intelligence than others, none has the capacity to reflect, ponder, and desire to contemplate and seek the truth! For them, it is not a necessity because they care more about survival and the immediate needs than having the “luxury” of higher, transcendental, and eternal matters. Nonetheless, the search for truth is what makes us uniquely human and separate from other species here on earth, and if we give up on it, we are nothing but creatures and creations of those who can manipulate, persuade, and create popular versions that captivate our attention. Truth has to be something beyond the apparent, and the willingness to search, seek, and live in the truth will set us free.
In a hopeless and enslaved world that is full of manipulations and opinionated conflicts to gain momentum, attention, and control of the populace, we often lose track and focus on our transcendental and eternal goods. We easily become consumers in a consumeristic world, obsessed with personal desires to have “more” and to be productive in the eyes of the world. It is a natural, egocentric desire to not feel limited by our personal illusion that we have what it takes to be relevant and part of this society and world at large. Yet, when we give up seeking what is never-changing, eternal, and transcendental, we, in turn, lose focus on what truly makes us human!
On this earth, human beings are the only ones who are capable of thinking for the sake of thinking. There might be other creatures who have “higher” forms of cognition than others; we are the only ones who are able to have rational contemplation to seek, desire, and attain the highest good and happiness available. Our intelligence and reason give us the ability to reflect and contemplate with abstract thinking. Other animals might seem to make smart decisions, act in a way that seems to be appropriate or skilled for a certain situation, but they will not go out of their way to seek the truth because they are too focused and busy with seeking food and shelter — caring for themselves.
The search for truth uses our brain for something that it was not necessary to build to do in the natural world to simply survive, outsmart, or efficiently operate, because it challenges us to gain insight into the ultimate nature of things rather than to keep ourselves alive. True knowledge and understanding, especially if they are grounded and founded in a life of virtue, cannot lead us too far astray from the truth because we will desire it over what seems to be advantageous.
Therefore, it is important that we be honest, real, and truthful to ourselves to keep focused on what is in front, appealing, or captivating at the moment. In a day and age where many are busy to gain traction and attention for themselves, the work of scientists no longer fully relies on facts, but most of the time, involves a great deal of persuasion of peers and public opinion. Hence, it is very important to recognize that our current understanding of science is politically and socially motivated, with every possible fact and counter-fact that look identical and persuasive on the outside. As a matter of fact, our history teaches us that propaganda and the desire to distort the truth for political, agenda, and human ends have always been with us, and it will continue to be used and adapted to any form of new media that allow open communication and information because those become platforms to form public opinions and perceptions.
Sadly, but true, the seemingly free internet and the wealth of knowledge that can be gained from the digital world are not so free. We continue to be prone to propaganda because information can be manipulated, filtered, deliberately falsified, and demographically targeted. Therefore, what seems to be fact can be twisted and lied away. If we think that objective measurements and facts will give us assurance, they can become fabricated means and lies for “the greater good” by the very people who think that, they are doing so because they believe in their good intention and told themselves (and perhaps, believe, too) that what they are saying is true. These politically and socially motivated measurements and objectives that were set to make our world a more human, just, and fair place have their own limitations because we are all broken, perplexed by our own particular goods and intentions, and that is why we need to pursue and seek the truth that comes from God — eternal, transcendent, and everlasting.
The Incarnate Word, Christ Jesus, came to set us free from our own enslavement to sin and the manipulation of this world. He opened our eyes to see our very own identity as sons and daughters of Heavenly Father, His disciples, and instruments of the Holy Spirit! This truth requires our everything because it challenges us to die to ourselves and seek genuine, personal, and heartfelt conversion to change our lives. It is not easy because it requires personal sacrifices and letting go of whatever we think is appealing or apparently good for us at the moment in order to understand, seek, and love things that are everlasting, transcendental, and eternally good in Him.
The truth will set us free if we allow ourselves to be liberated from temporary, opinionated, and popular ideologies, agendas, and goods. In order to truly be free in God, we have to let go of our very own egocentric desire to be in control and have things our way, repent of our sins, change our lives, and allow ourselves to be transformed by His loving truth. This requires a life of prayer and worship, both in a personal and communal way, so what we have received at Mass can be enlivened in our very own daily life interactions, words, actions, and deeds.
We can speak a lot and can be persuasive in many ways, but if we continue to expect others to change to meet our standards and desires, we remain kings and queens of our own little, pitiful, sad, hellish, and individualistic universes. We have to desire, seek, and be willing to be changed by the truth in how we pray and worship God as our ultimate and greatest good! Words are cheap nowadays because we are filled with so many self-righteous, noisy, and attention-seeking voices. We speak louder when we allow our lives to speak Christ and His love for us, by how we pray, worship, and allow ourselves to humbly be changed by His grace.
In a day and age of so many different, opinionated, and popular versions of truth, we will remain distracted and lost when we allow others to speak false lies and take life from us. If we allow ourselves to simply be focused on earthly goods, especially their ever-changing opinions and trends, we will always remain lost. We can be on the cutting edge and be relevant on the outside, but nothing really changes until we allow ourselves to be true, honest, and humble in being sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, disciples of Christ Jesus, and instruments of the Holy Spirit. If we have done everything that we can to be relevant and noticeable by others but still end up being empty, tired, and unhappy, we have let the flashy, appealing, and entertaining stuff make us into typical consumers that end up being consumed by the very products, ideologies, agendas, opinions, and matters of this world. Therefore, do not be afraid to seek the truth in God and live in His fullness by how we pray and worship, seek conversion of heart and give our lives in humble, genuine, and personal testimony to the freedom we have in Him who loves us beyond anything that this world can ever offer us.
I Thirst (John 19:28) with Father Khoi 