194: There Are 3 Types of Truths
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Neil Degrasse Tyson believes that there are three different types of truths; Personal, Political, and Objective Truths. We all experience these 3 different truths every day in our lives. These truths have serious impacts in how we conduct ourselves in our relationships, or careers, and our personal lives.
The easiest to understand is the Objective truth. It is something that is true for everyone, everywhere, at all times. As an example; “We need oxygen to breathe.” A Personal Truth is best seen in a religious truth. “I believe that Jesus is my Lord and Savior.” You may personally believe that but Joe down the street does not. Finally, we have the Political Truth. Political Truths are what society has decided to be true. An example of this would be in how society changes its views on what is right, wrong, moral, and immoral.
The problem with 3 different truths is that everyone ends up mixing up personal and political truths with objective truths. We allow ourselves to believe that what we view as truth based on our personal experience or what society says is true must be an objective truth. This causes conflict between us. Religions have gone to war with each other in history over personal beliefs. Its not healthy. Personal truths are not unhealthy unless we allow them to blur the lines of objective truth.
To keep the lines clear, we need to be able to clearly understand where our views and understandings of the truths are coming from. A feeling of frustration in your life can be analyzed. Yes, it is a personal truth. The objective truth is in finding out why you are feeling frustrated. Get to the root cause of your feeling to truly understand your personal truths. Why are you feeling frustrated? Why is the thing you stated causing annoyance or frustration to you?
A personal truth can be a very self-limiting belief. As an example, a person saying they can’t get out of debt because the system is rigged against them. As a person who has been in debt, I understand the negative feelings, the struggles, and the hopelessness that creeps in. It feels like you can’t get out, or that it is too hard to do anything to fix it. However, if you dig deeper into why you feel that way the objective truth is often hard to swallow. We made choices in many cases that put us in debt. There are obvious exceptions to that, but most debt is 100% avoidable. So an objective truth is “in many cases we could make better choices to avoid debt.”
For healthier, more fulfilling lives, look at why you believe what you believe. Look for an understanding so you can better recognize what is a personal, political, and objective truth. Stay mindful of your personal truths and keep them from blurring the lines of objective truths so you do not end up putting up roadblocks that hinder your progress or opportunities.
