On Truth and Knowing
July 24th, 2010
Truth must be known, not as facts are known, but as lovers are known, partially, fleetingly, uncertainly, overwhelmingly, undeniably, impossibly. It can be known only with a knowing that never defines or delineates or delimits, that never assures or guarantees or promises. It can be known only so far as we are in it. This is why we can never have the truth, why we can only ever be in the truth, and even this is beyond all guarantee.
7 Responses to “On Truth and Knowing”
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From Word to Word by Jeremy Luke Hill is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License.
July 26th, 2010 at 9:31 am
[...] alluded to in beautiful, poetic conciseness by my friend Luke Hill in a short piece entitled On Truth and Knowing: Truth must be known, not as facts are known, but as lovers are known, partially, fleetingly, [...]
July 29th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
yes.
July 30th, 2010 at 2:20 am
I contemplated this note as I made a snack this evening, like how I only know how to de-pit an avocado by chance, because I turned the tv to the food network. One brief spontaneous encounter that has changed my life for the better, that I cannot truly possess, but am always grateful for. Until recently I didn’t even know how precious it is, that some people scoop out the pit or cut around it, wasting both time and wonderful green goo!
July 30th, 2010 at 8:07 am
Curtis,
This is not exactly the kind of knowing I am describing here. A technique for pitting an avocado is a fact that can be known as fact, taught and learned, even if only by chance from the food network. Truth, however, can never be known like this. It can only be inhabited.
July 30th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
I don’t know, it is something elusive and problematic for me, when I stick the knife into the Avocado, I don’t know if it is deep enough all the time, I don’t know how it will stick, or how much I will need to jimmy it free, sometimes the seed chips, sometimes if flicks off the blade nicely, sometimes is will not let go. When I use the spoon, all is variable, how much will still be in the shell, will the stem be taken with the scooping or be left behind, how will it mash with the folk, smoothly, chunkily, difficulty with a firmness, each is different- but I must always seek it through all it’s ambiguities, and each time it confronts me unexpectedly, each time it confronts me differently, and then fades again, unpredictable next time, overwhelming at the inginuity that creeps up on how to prepare it, mixing it with bbq sauce, mustard and herbs, and having it taste like a roast beef sandwich when bread is dipped- this to me covers your criteria, but we seem always to see and think things differently you and I.
July 30th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Curtis,
We are not just seeing and thinking things differently here, we are occupying different universes. If you see transcendent truths in avocado pitting, you are welcome to them, but these are not at all the kind of truths I am describing.
July 30th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
But if they are transcendent, then where can they not transcend?