The Pursuit of Truth Is a Menacing Maze to the Unprepared Minds!
The pursuit of truth, with all its hallucinating forms, had puzzled the humanity for millenniums. To begin with, Philosophers, Scientists, Astrologists, Archeologists, Thinkers have invested their entire lives in the quest for the truth. In fact, they provided the humanity with large number of writings. They gave them a rich and diverse heritage of their philosophies, sciences, ideologies and beliefs, based on the great book of nature.
However, the entire truth is quite similar to a puzzle of an infinite number of pieces and possessing it entirely is likely impossible.
In other words, it’s safe to say that knowledge is measurable, large or trivial. Reading an entire encyclopedia makes the reader a book-learning and very knowledgeable about things. However, this large knowledge would never ever be enough to cover thoroughly and entirely the truth of things.
Knowledge is the blossom of the soul and the path to the truth, an absolute relationship. But this path is riddled with dangers, and it needs a lot of courage and prudence to embrace the truth.
It remains to know how the quest for the truth is raveled with great danger!
For this purpose, I’ll borrow the legend of Oedipus, a mythical king of Thebes, who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, as prophesied by the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi.
The Story of Oedipus
The Child and the Prophecy
As mentioned in fragments by Aeschylus, Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, and Euripides, Oedipus was born in the 5th century BA to Laius and Jocasta, king and queen of Thebes once called Kadmea after its founder Kadmus, son of Agenor king of Tyre, and who is believed to be the man who introduced the writing to Greece, the Phoenician’s alphabet, during his search for his sister Europa.
The oracle of Delphi prophesized that if Laius had a son, his son would kill him. When Jocasta bore Him, she left her child to die nearby a mountainside to thwart the fulfillment of the prophecy. But the child was found by shepherds and then adopted and raised by Polybus and Merope, King and queen of Corinth, as their own.
Meditation in Buddhism Beliefs
Meditation is an important practice in Buddhism which allows the person to quiet the mind, be present in the present moment, and observe their thoughts and feelings.
The Crossroad and the Award: Fulfilment of the Prophecy
Oedipus, young and strong, during his journey to Thebes, reached a crossroad at the same time as king Laius. Fighting over who has the right to pass first, Oedipus killed king Laius.
He continued his journey and encountered a Sphinx, a horrifying creature with the head and breast of a woman and a body of lioness, blocking the path into and out of Thebes kingdom. The Sphinx would stop all travelers and ask them a riddle, if they answer correctly, they pass safely, if not, they would be killed and eaten. The riddle was: “What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon and three at night?”. The “man” replied Oedipus. Answering correctly the riddle, the Sphinx let him pass through. In other stories, the Sphinx killed himself of rage.
In Thebes, it had been announced that anyone who can save the kingdom from the Sphinx would marry queen Jocasta. That’s how Oedipus, unknowingly, married his real mother.
Is this what is it about? That no matter what, no one can escape his destiny. It might be true but there is more to it than that. We have just seen the skin of the apple, not the core.
Beyond doubt, a good knowledge destroys the obstacles, flattens the paths and rewards the one who has it. Answering correctly the riddle killed the Sphinx and rewarded Oedipus to reign over Thebes. Everything seems to be real.
The Pursuit of Truth is Raveled with Great Danger!
Many years later, concerned about some rumors, he went to the Oracle at Delphi in order to dissipate them. Instead, the truth came up to light and destroyed everything Oedipus built! He knew the disturbing truth. Incapable to deal with the new knowledge of truth which quaked his world and blasted his beliefs and his family. He blinded himself.
This new knowledge, this new evidence, the truth, overwhelmed his mind and failed his capacity to understand. It blinded his judgement and kept him from embracing the truth. These discoveries demolished and overturned his old beliefs, what once was truth became inharmonious with the new facts.
Conclusion
The question that poses itself is: “Is truth an illusion?”. Admittedly, we cannot separate knowledge from truth, even if they have a strong and tight relationship. Because the knowledge is the truth’s modifier. The more you know, the most likely your beliefs would change. It’s an eternal journey to the unknown just like the Ouroboros, a serpent or dragon chasing untiringly its own tail, which symbolizes the eternal search for the truth by the humanity.
In short, conquering the knowledge requires readiness for what the unknown hides. Looking directly at the sun without protection can leave you partially or totally blind!
Cheers!
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