Searching for Truth through Dialogue
Absolute Truth Manifests Itself in Diverse Ways
Mohammad Khatami
All divine religions have called humanity to the One, Sacred, and Absolute Truth. Should we aim to strip religion of the Absolute and the Sacred, all its content shall be thereby nullified.
Nevertheless, it remains up to humans to discern and grasp the Truth. Philosophical and speculative discussions of “Being”, “Existence”, the ultimate essence of Truth and the scope and verisimilitude of human understanding notwithstanding, we must realize that humans –all humans- are conditioned and bound within various limits. Truth is essentially absolute, but we shall never doubt that human comprehension of the truth, within the confines of internal and external limits of time, place, history, society and psychology, always remains partial and relative. Any proprietary claim to the full possession of the absolute truth and that which is truly absolute remains as groundless as the categorical rejection of truth in principle.
The problem that afflicted humanity in old days was the exaggerated insistence on bestowing truth and sacredness to essentially non-sacred categories. The problem that afflicts humanity today is the attempt to disenchant everything everywhere and to reject sacredness. The world denuded of that which is sacred and absolute, is but a cold, callous, unsightly and indeed frightening world: no less than the world in which mundane and essentially non-sacred human affairs are bestowed falsely with a sacred aura.
Human beings are, driven by their nature, searching for the truth and seeking to approach it. Through dialogue and acts of bilateral exchange, the possibility emerges for us to bring in our ideals and earnestly set out on the path toward the truth. Also, in the quotidian public arena, we may discern mutual standards and agree through dialogue upon common ways and means to eliminate obstacles and attain goals.
At this point I would like to share an insight about truth and conflict which derives from the perspective of mystic thought.
While truth is in essence absolute and unique, it has infinitely diversely differing manifestations. It is a calamity to mistake any partial manifestation divulged and discovered on a singular basis for the whole truth. Here we should give voice to the words of the Persian mystic poet who said:
Thou have manifested thyself in a thousand manifestations
And I vow to gaze upon thee with a thousand eyes.
When we delve deep into the root of conflicts and controversies, we fathom the illusory whim and bad faith of incomplete individuals who falsely claim completeness, and seek to affirm their own “Self” by obliterating the identity of the “Other”. In conclusion, I would like to cite a verse by the great Persian poet Hafez who said:
May Thou forgive the controversies wrought by the seventy-two creeds,
They failed to see the truth, and thus followed their whims.
Posted by Seyed Mohammad Khatami on November 14, 2006 10:00 PM
His Excellency Mohammad Khatami served two terms as Iran’s president from 1997 to 2005. He also founded the Tehran-based International Institute for Dialogue among Civilizations and Cultures.
To read the original article in The Washington Post, click on:
Washington Post
Mohammad Khatami
All divine religions have called humanity to the One, Sacred, and Absolute Truth. Should we aim to strip religion of the Absolute and the Sacred, all its content shall be thereby nullified.
Nevertheless, it remains up to humans to discern and grasp the Truth. Philosophical and speculative discussions of “Being”, “Existence”, the ultimate essence of Truth and the scope and verisimilitude of human understanding notwithstanding, we must realize that humans –all humans- are conditioned and bound within various limits. Truth is essentially absolute, but we shall never doubt that human comprehension of the truth, within the confines of internal and external limits of time, place, history, society and psychology, always remains partial and relative. Any proprietary claim to the full possession of the absolute truth and that which is truly absolute remains as groundless as the categorical rejection of truth in principle.
The problem that afflicted humanity in old days was the exaggerated insistence on bestowing truth and sacredness to essentially non-sacred categories. The problem that afflicts humanity today is the attempt to disenchant everything everywhere and to reject sacredness. The world denuded of that which is sacred and absolute, is but a cold, callous, unsightly and indeed frightening world: no less than the world in which mundane and essentially non-sacred human affairs are bestowed falsely with a sacred aura.
Human beings are, driven by their nature, searching for the truth and seeking to approach it. Through dialogue and acts of bilateral exchange, the possibility emerges for us to bring in our ideals and earnestly set out on the path toward the truth. Also, in the quotidian public arena, we may discern mutual standards and agree through dialogue upon common ways and means to eliminate obstacles and attain goals.
At this point I would like to share an insight about truth and conflict which derives from the perspective of mystic thought.
While truth is in essence absolute and unique, it has infinitely diversely differing manifestations. It is a calamity to mistake any partial manifestation divulged and discovered on a singular basis for the whole truth. Here we should give voice to the words of the Persian mystic poet who said:
Thou have manifested thyself in a thousand manifestations
And I vow to gaze upon thee with a thousand eyes.
When we delve deep into the root of conflicts and controversies, we fathom the illusory whim and bad faith of incomplete individuals who falsely claim completeness, and seek to affirm their own “Self” by obliterating the identity of the “Other”. In conclusion, I would like to cite a verse by the great Persian poet Hafez who said:
May Thou forgive the controversies wrought by the seventy-two creeds,
They failed to see the truth, and thus followed their whims.
Posted by Seyed Mohammad Khatami on November 14, 2006 10:00 PM
His Excellency Mohammad Khatami served two terms as Iran’s president from 1997 to 2005. He also founded the Tehran-based International Institute for Dialogue among Civilizations and Cultures.
To read the original article in The Washington Post, click on:
Washington Post
posted by Pax Christi @ Thursday, November 16, 2006
<< Home