The search for truth

There is a corny 'old man' joke that goes something like this.

"Why is it always the last place you look that you finally find what you're looking for?

Because when you find it, you stop looking."

As simple as this joke is, it actually speaks to a very basic human tendency. When we find what we are looking for, we stop looking for it. Why expend further time and energy searching for something we already possess?

The most striking example of this I have witnessed in my own life is the truth found in Mormonism. As members of the church we are taught we have the whole and complete truth of God, who we are and why we are here, and where we will ultimately find ourselves after we die.

With the assurance and comfort of having the absolute true answers for life's toughest questions, we can sit back and bask in the knowledge of our superior position. We alone, separate from the billions of other residents of this earth, have all the answers for life. We know where we came from, why we are here, and what we need to do to make it to where we want to go. Why on earth would we possibly waste any time or energy searching for other "truth" when we have it all, sitting right in front of our face?

You probably see the problem here. The assumption of possessing the absolute truth of your existence here on earth is hardly a defensible position to take. If only only one hole or contradiction or logical fallacy can be found in your reasoning or beliefs, then your entire position is compromised.

Logic and evidence aside, Mormons are hardly the first, and will certainly not be the last, organization to claim ultimate truth and authority. Therefore their claims must be examined with the same objective and skeptical eye as you would investigate any other religion or organization.

But getting back to the original idea, one of the predictable results of finding or possessing something is that you cease looking for it.

I find it incredibly ironic that I spent 2 years of my life, going door-to-door, asking people to open their minds and hearts and honestly seek the truth, while at the same time I myself was completely closed off to any further ideas or thoughts or truths that anyone attempted to present to me. "No thanks, I already have the truth. And I highly recommend you humble yourself enough to sincerely investigate what I have to share with you."

I absolutely do know for a fact that for me, in my own personal life, the assurance of possessing the truth pretty much squashed any curiosity or interest in seeking out further truth or learning what billions of other people have had to say on life and what this experience is all about. Why waste time and energy studying all of these other thoughts and ideas that are clearly false. I have the truth!

Not only did I not have any interest in learning about other religions or philosophies or ideas, but I also avoided and actively discarded any evidence or information that I could not twist to fit within my paradigm of truth.

A prime example of this is evolution. I scoffed and laughed at my 10th grade Biology teacher. "You actually believe that nonsense?! Everyone knows humans came from Adam and Eve!! Silly ignorant biology teacher."

It got a little more difficult to evade these things when I would see science shows on tv where they showed actual skulls of human-like beings who lived hundreds of thousands of years ago. But I still clung to my truth of Adam and Eve who lived 6,000 years ago.

I would reason, "Well, I don't know how God did it, but there must be an explanation for how my truth is still true. And since I know I have the truth, there is no need to investigate the validity of these claims of human evolution."

I could give many more examples of turning away from and disregarding anything that didn't fit within my paradigm of truth or that appeared to offer no value as it provided an explanation or theory for the truth of our existence, contradictory to the truth I knew I already possessed.

This all changed a few years ago when I began to notice I was having to discard and overlook more and more things. My pile of discarded items that could not be plugged into my paradigm of truth, no matter how much I twisted them, was growing to an unimaginable size.

And I discovered the simple truths and explanations for this life I had held my entire life had grown a bit stale and provided little to no stimulation or opportunity for growth. Weekly church meetings became nothing more than a predictable rehashing of these same ideas, over and over and over. And most disturbing of all, I found most church lessons and sermons were merely entreaties and admonitions to hold ever stronger to the truths we know we have. "Don't listen to doubts. Don't pay attention to anything that contradicts or goes against what we believe. We have the truth! Don't ever look away!!!"

But I can't turn away from a fossil that is 200,000 years old. To do so would be intellectually dishonest. And with my increased curiosity and interest in new ideas and philosophies, I feel like I have outgrown the simple and constantly repeated truths of Mormonism. I find them to be contradictory with the world around us and entirely lacking in mental stimulation. I intend to continually seek for truth wherever I may find it, for the remainder of my life, even if that means abandoning previously held beliefs that I absolutely "knew" to be true.