The spread of misinformation and lies has now extended into multiple aspects of our lives, eating away at humanity’s fundamental realities. It has paralyzed so many that they have lost hope for the future.
People feel confused about what to believe and struggle to find the truth everywhere.
Not long ago, people were used to getting their news from newspapers, radio, and television. For the most part, they trusted those sources – but now information comes filtered through so many untrustworthy, commercialized, partisan outlets that convey the exact opposite. Finding the truth requires searching through a plethora of outright lies to discover what all the contradicting views and facts really mean.
Independently Investigate Reality
This principle represents a great challenge facing humanity. What we need is a higher level of personal investigative abilities, so we can each find the truth.
The invention of printing and later mass media like radio and television, and now the internet, has made it easy to spread lies and half-truths to a large number of people – but hopefully, our understanding and intellectual abilities will keep pace with these changes.
Now, in order to determine the truth, we must train ourselves and our intellects to do more research and dig deeper to find the facts. It requires us to learn not just the bare facts, but what those facts actually mean. Investigating more deeply will serve us well and benefit our collective human development.
Our God-Given Truth-Seeking Capabilities
The Creator has given us this ability to determine what is true and what is not, and it is up to us to use it.
“God has given man the eye of investigation by which he may see and recognize truth. He has endowed man with ears that he may hear the message of reality and conferred upon him the gift of reason by which he may discover things for himself. This is his endowment and equipment for the investigation of reality. Man is not intended to see through the eyes of another, hear through another’s ears nor comprehend with another’s brain.” -Abdu’l-Baha
The truth, however, isn’t just a set of concrete circumstances – it goes far beyond mere facts and crosses over into the realm of values. This means we each have to adopt a set of over-arching principles or values that allow us to measure what is right and compare it to what is wrong.
When we make these changes in our thinking and in our approach to reality, they allow us to evolve to a higher level of understanding.
No one can afford the luxury of being indifferent to the present environment. When we don’t try to investigate the truth independently, we take on the easy or lazy attitude adopted by many these days. If we want to base our lives on fact, we need to work hard for it, investing physical and spiritual energy.
Suppose we adopt a rigorous practice of separating fact from fiction and develop a set of spiritual principles and values to rely on to guide us through the turbulent world of our existence. In that case, we can stand firm and face all the misinformation that comes our way.
We have the opportunity to use the misinformation that comes our way to our advantage – we can make those lemons into a refreshing lemonade and quench our thirst for truth with it in these trying and politically-charged times. There is no reason we should give up now and reject these God-given challenges that, in the end, will take us to a higher level of maturity.
Badi Shams is a Baha’i and a mystic at heart and has an MA in economics.He has published “Economics of the Future” and “Economics of the Future Begins Today” and recently written the books “Random Thoughts of a Mystic Economist” and “Towards a New Spiritual Economic System.” You can find Badi’s website at badishams.com called “Baha’i Inspired Economics” He is retired from the education system.
You can read more articles on our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking, at https://www.timescolonist.com/blogs/spiritually-speaking
*This article was published in the print edition of the Times Colonist on Saturday, October 19th 2024
