Veiled...

Xavier William	2:12 PM (4 hours ago)

The discussions on truth and absolute truths reminds me of Plato's allegory  in Book VII of 'The Republic' wherein Plato compares our existence to prisoners tied up in a cave, so that they cannot turn around. Behind them there is a path along which people, animals, birds and vehicles of every kind move up an down and their shadows fall on the wall in front of the prisoners. It is from these shadows alone that the prisoners can assess what goes on outside the cave. With time, the people in the cave may increase their expertise and accuracy in interpreting the shadows on the wall before them. However, these interpretations can never match the reality of the world outside them in all its dimensions and ramifications. Likewise, we are also very much constrained by the limitations of our senses of perception. The things we perceive are mere shadows of the real world in all its dimensions and ramifications, in all its power and glory.

This is called the Veil Theory in epistemology. According to this theory, we can only perceive the veil of reality; total reality or absolute truth remains elusive. I would like to compare reality or truth to an onion with an infinite number of layers which can be peeled away. As we peel off each layer another layer of the onion is exposed. In the same way as we acquire more and more knowledge about anything we realize that more and more remains to be discovered about it.