what is truth?

truth is elusive.  what is it?  abstract, for sure.  because truth is defined by the observer.  everyone has their own truth.

(i am saying and typing 'truth' so much that it no longer sounds like a real word.)

this causes angst because we want to know (or want to feel we know) the actual truth.  the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  we need to have our version of truth defined such that, when presented with opposing arguments or various viewpoints, we have something to guide our truth-determination process.  because we want to know whether we are dealing with the truth or not.  our truth, not the speaker of questionable truth.

so we hear or read "obama is a muslim."  we know this to be not truth, and thus we can decide how to react or whether to react at all.

or we hear statistics thrown around supposedly supporting the speaker's argument as proven fact.  we don't know of these statistics, so we might look them up ourselves and try to determine if we feel they are truth or not.  or we might go to trusted and probably like-minded sources to get their responses.  we establish our truth on the subject and, again, decide how to react or whether to react at all.

(this 'royal we' tone is started to sound stale, sorry)

so how is our skill at truth analysis formed?  well, this is where we get to morality.  and what influences morality in most people on our planet?  religion!  which is fine, except those using religion as their moral garmin don't always end up with the golden rule.  as you would think they should, every dang time.

what do others use to guide their morality?  i suppose i rely on a handful of various ideas and thoughts (no single ideology or religion).  the golden rule at its most basic probably guides me the most.  "One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself."  pretty goddamn simple.  yet, like truth, in all her bombastic and self-obsessed glory, elusive.