How Can We Find Truth

7/28/2019 How Can We Find Truth

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How Can We Find Truth

Few people would claim that they prefer living in

ignorance to knowing truth. It is nearly impossible,however, to find truth without first thinking aboutwhat truth is, and how we can come to know truth.

Our Senses

The first thing to think about when consideringhow we come to know something is to ask if there issome sort of objective truth in the universe that we candiscover. Based on our experience with our senses,most of us assume without thinking much about it thatthere is some sort of objective reality. We shouldrealize, however, that our perception of reality isextremely limited and imperfect. It is limited becausewe only perceive a small part of what we normallyconceive of as being “ real. ” We can only see andexperience a small part of the world at any one time.Our vision is limited by distance and by lightingconditions. Our eyes can see only a small part of theelectromagnetic spectrum. Our other senses are allotherwise similarly limited.

Our senses are also imperfect. Many of us wearglasses or contacts. But even those of us who have20/20 vision have imperfect vision. The resolution of our vision is limited by the number of rod and conereceptor cells in our eye. There are holes andimperfections in the picture our eyes pick up becausethe distribution of receptor cells in our retina isuneven, and because there are not receptors where theoptic nerve connects to the retina. We perceive that



what we are seeing is complete and whole because ourbrains fill in the gaps in our vision. Some kinds of optical illusions work by exploiting this feature of ourbrain.

There are other arguments against trusting in oursenses. Some scientists have hypothesized that thephysical laws of the universe may not be constant – they may have changed over time, or may be differentin other parts of the universe. Quantum physicsindicates that it is impossible to know some things; asour certainty about a particle ’ s momentum goes up,

our uncertainty about its position must also go up.Gaining knowledge about one aspect of the particlemakes it impossible to gain knowledge about others.

Even if physical laws could have changed over timeand even though quantum properties of particles areuncertain, our general experience with the consistencyof our perceptions and the consistency of cause and

effect lead us to behave as if some sort of objectivetruth exists.

Even if we are not physically capable of fullyunderstanding reality (or even capable of verifyingthat there is some sort of objective reality), ourcontinued survival forces us to act as if there is areality and to assume that we can perceive it. On the

most basic level, our personal experience andobservation of other people indicates that certainactions can cause physical injury and death, and thatother activities lead to physical well-being. Forexample, if I don ’ t eat, I feel weak and unwell; I amaware of cases where someone starved to death because



they went without food for too long. I generalize theseexperiences to come to the conclusion that I must eat tostay alive.

This of course raises questions about the nature of death, existence, and reality. What does it mean to dieor to live? Is this world real? Do I cease to exist as athinking entity when I die? These are questions Icannot presume to answer in this short blog post; evenpeople who presume they know the answers to thesequestions can ’ t really explain very much aboutexistence, reality, and the afterlife (even assuming their

answers are right). But notwithstanding our lack of understanding about the nature of existence andreality, our continued existence in this form of existence requires that we act as if its objectivephysical reality exists. Our perception of it may beimperfect and flawed, but the consistency of thoseperceptions can at least lead us to conclude that ourraw perceptions of reality have a high probability of being generally accurate. And anyone who wants tocontinue living in this plane of existence (whatever it is)must make conclusions about his or her perceptions of cause and effect and behave in accordance with thoseconclusions.

Our experience indicates that there are physicallaws which govern the operation of the universe (which

are apparently unchanging, at least on the scale of human lifetimes). On an elementary level, we allobserve that things fall toward the Earth and not awayfrom it, or that the sun always rises and sets. Thisconsistency in our daily experience leads us to assumethat truth exists and that we can discover and



understand it. Just as we learn through repeatedexperience from a young age that the sun always rises,we come to expect consistency in other areas, so long aswe discover the rules which govern.

This experience with the consistency of reality canbe contrasted with a common experience in dreams:people who are dreaming will often look at something,look away, and then look at it again, only to discoverthat the object has changed in some fundamental way.We perceive “ real life ” as being qualitatively differentfrom our dreams because we presume that our dreams

are generated by our own minds and are thuschangeable, whereas our waking perceptions of theuniverse and the physical world are consistent andappear to be governed by unchanging laws (mostpeople, however, do not realize while dreaming thattheir perceptions are inconsistent, and usually don ’ teven notice they are dreaming at all – within thecontext of the dream, these inconsistencies appearperfectly natural; the lesson we should learn from thisis that perhaps we should be skeptical about ourwaking perceptions as well, seeking inconsistencieseven in things that at first seem natural). We perceivecause and effect; we perceive the flow of time;something which has happened in the past appears tobe unchangeable.

What can we learn from all of this? Because of theimperfections and limitations of our senses and ourbrains, we should always be humble about what we“ know. ” We should recognize that no matter howsmart we are, our knowledge is imperfect. Because of our human limitations, we can never have complete



certainty about any of our perceptions. At the sametime, however, the business of living requires that weassume there is some sort of objective reality to ourexistence and that we can come to some sort of understanding of it. Real wisdom comes from seekingfor greater knowledge and understanding, but havingthe humility to recognize that we ’ ll never have perfectunderstanding; as we seek with humility, the best wecan hope is for our understanding and knowledge tobecome better and better approximations of reality.

Please understand whenever I post about

something here, that when I refer to things as facts oras truths or as reality, it is because I amcommunicating with the normal words we use in ourlanguage, but that I fully acknowledge that there isuncertainty about everything I represent to be truth orto be real. In all of my subsequent posts, an implicitpremise in all of them is that some sort of objectivetruth and reality exists, and that we are capable of arriving at some understanding of it, even though itmay be an imperfect and incomplete understanding.

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In this second part of my series on truth, I discussdifferent ways we can discover truth.

If we assume that there is some kind of objectivetruth, and that we can gain knowledge about it, thenext step is to figure out how we may gain knowledge.Knowledge of something necessarily entails belief, butis more than just mere belief. It is possible to believesomething which is not true. Pure knowledge wouldtherefore be belief in something which is true. Since we



can never be certain of anything, human knowledge isbelief in something which we have a reasonable basisfor believing is true.

Let’

s consider some ways that we can gainknowledge. All of them have their strengths andweaknesses, but they all have a place in our quest fortruth.

1) Observation

We can gain knowledge through observation. Myknowledge that the sky is blue is based on my directobservation of the sky.

The problem with relying on observation is itassumes that our senses and our perceptions arealways accurate. Unfortunately, this is not true. As Idiscussed above, our senses are imperfect. Our sensescan be tricked into believing things that are impossible(optical illusions and magic tricks show how easy it isto fool our senses). Mere observation often does not tellus much about the root causes of things, without theuse of some of the methods I list below. Observation isbackward-looking: it can only tell us about what hashappened in the past, and it limits us to only learningabout what we can directly experience.

2) Trial and Error

You could also call this experimentation. It involvesobservation, but instead of just passively observing, aperson takes action to test an idea. Trial and errormeans testing out different options until you come toone that works. Think of Thomas Edison inventing the



light bulb by testing new materials over and over, untilhe found one that would work as the filament of a lightbulb.

Discovery through trial and error is often timeconsuming. Relying on trial and error to discover newtruth means that each of us is very limited in what wecan discover during our lifetime. We can onlypersonally do so much. Trial and error will not alwayslead to the complete truth. If we discover somethingthat seems to work, it does not necessarily mean it isbest or truest way (for example, Edison invented the

light bulb, but fluorescent and LED bulbs last longerand are more efficient).

Just like with observation, if our goal is to discovertruth, trial and error doesn ’ t always work to help usunderstand deeper root causes. It doesn ’ t always leadto an understanding of why our solution works(discovering the light bulb, or fire, or the wheel didn ’ t

necessarily mean that anyone understood why or howthey work).

3) Common sense

Based on our previous experience, we can applyintuition and basic reasoning to make inferences aboutthings we have not yet observed or experienced. As wegain knowledge through observation and trial anderror, we will notice patterns and learn to extrapolate.For example, someone might observe that every timethey throw an object up at a certain angle on awindless day, then it always comes back down againthe same way. They will notice the pattern that the sunrises every morning, and generalize their observation



to conclude that the sun will rise every morning. Weuse common sense and basic reasoning to makepredictions about the future based on our previousexperience.

The big problem with common sense is that ourbasic intuitive reasoning is often wrong. Humansnaturally commit all sorts of fallacies:

• we falsely attribute causation to unrelated eventsthat happened around the same time (like the Aztecsbelieving that their blood sacrifices caused the sun to

rise).• we misunderstand the true causes of events (such asthe belief up until the 19th century that bloodlettinghelped cure disease).

• we trust too much in our senses withoutunderstanding their limitations; we believe that oursenses give us a completely accurate understanding of world, and then make false conclusions (like the worldbeing flat),

• we falsely attribute personality and intentionalityto inanimate objects (like people talking to their car).

Just as with observation and trial and error, eachone of us can only figure out so much, so usingcommon sense on our own means that we will be

limited in how much we can discover.

4) Authorities

Our time and our ability to observe and experimentare limited. First through oral traditions, and nowthrough written language, (made available to the



masses thanks to cheap publishing costs and now theinternet), people have been able to pass theirknowledge onto others. We don ’ t have to start fromscratch in our quest for knowledge. The accumulatedstore of human-generated information is now soamazingly vast that it would be impossible for any of us to rediscover and recreate it all on our own throughobservation, trial and error, and common sense.Because of this, we all rely on experts: people who havegained knowledge in a particular subject area and whothen share that knowledge with others.

It is a logical fallacy, however to rely on thetruthfulness of a statement just because an expert saidit. Not everything you read is true. Something isn ’ ttrue just because an expert said it. But there is adifference between relying on a statement because itwas made by an authority, and relying on it because of the inherent merit of the statement itself. It is not afallacy to argue that the assertion made by anauthority is true. The fallacy comes from believing thatthe authority is somehow infallible and that somethingis true because it was said by an authority. Somethingis not true just because a scientist said it; if a realscientist said it, you can examine their data andmethods and come to your own conclusion.

A statement made by an authority is worthless

unless you can independently test and evaluate thatstatement. Physicists tell us that matter is made of atoms, which are made up of protons, neutrons, andelectrons. I don ’ t believe this because statements madeby physicists are somehow entitled to greaterdeference. I believe it because the physicists have



exhaustively documented how they came to thisconclusion, other physicists have reproduced thoseresults, and I can repeat their experiments and testtheir statements out myself to verify their truth

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This is the third post in this series on truth, Icontinue my discussion of different ways we candiscover truth.

5) Empirical Rationalism / The Scientific Method.

Empirical rationalism means applying reason andformal logic to our perceptions and experiences tocome to conclusions. Since the time of the ancientGreeks, philosophers, mathematicians, scientists, andothers have discovered and created the principles of formal logic, which allow us to more systematicallyevaluate our perceptions of the world and makeaccurate conclusions. Empirical rationalism is differentfrom common sense because it involves the applicationof formal rules and critical thinking to our perceptionsand experience, whereas common sense is based moreon intuitive deductions about the world. Empiricalrationalism means consciously language and logic tointerpret our perceptions; it requires an understandingof logical fallacies and making the effort to avoid suchfallacies.

The scientific method involves observation andexperimentation. In its most basic application, a personcreates a hypothesis using the knowledge they ’ vegained from observation, trial and error, authorities,and previous applications of the scientific method. In



other cases, scientists will start with a question, not ahypothesis. Either way, they design experiments ortests to disprove their hypothesis or to provide data tohelp answer the question. They then share those resultswith other people who examine and critique theirmethodology and results, and perhaps try out theexperiments or tests themselves to try and replicate theresults. If the results stand up to scrutiny, and arereplicable, then our level of confidence is increased inthe validity of the hypothesis. But the hypothesis willalways be subject to further testing and attempts todisprove it. If further experiments disprove it, then it isrejected. If it stands up to further experimentation,then our level of confidence in its truth will increase.

My description of the scientific method issimplified. There are other ways of doing science (forexample, statistically analyzing other people ’ s data,doing observational fieldwork to observe andcategorize species or geological characteristics). Nomatter the exact approach, the distinguishingcharacteristics of science are:

1) subjecting the results to other scientists ’ reviewand criticism,

2) an analytic and systematic approach to solvingproblems and answering questions,

3) rejecting conclusions that aren ’ t supported byevidence, and

4) basing one ’ s views and opinions on the evidence,as opposed to trying to force evidence to fit apreconceived notions.



My description of the scientific method is anidealized version. In real life, things don ’ t happen ascleanly. Scientists can be dogmatic too. They can getset in their ways, refusing to change their opinions inthe face of new evidence. Carl Sagan ’ s quote that“ extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence ” illustrates this point. This quote is often used to implythat a claim which contradicts the current paradigm(The generally accepted perspective of a particulardiscipline at a given time ) must be supported by moreproof than a claim which accords with the currentparadigm. A real scientist wouldn ’ t require a higherstandard of proof for a claim which departs from hisworld view – to do otherwise means that the scientist isbiased. An unbiased scientist would apply the samestandard of proof to every claim, dispassionatelyevaluating the claims and giving credence ( Themental attitude that something is believable and shouldbe accepted as true ) to the claims which best fit theevidence. This may mean that most extraordinaryclaims will be rejected because the totality of theevidence better supports the current paradigm, but itwill not be rejected just because the claim itself wasextraordinary.

There are problems which affect what even getspresented as science in the first place. Because mostscientific theories and discoveries are presented inpeer-reviewed journals, a new theory will not bedisseminated and get widespread acceptance unless itis published in a peer-reviewed journal, even if thattheory better fits the data than the old theory,



Scientists expect new claims to stand up to criticismand review, and the system of peer reviewed journalshelps provide a system of ensuring that new scientificclaims have been examined. The people who decidewhat gets published in a scientific journal thus havethe power to suppress papers presenting theories withwhich they disagree. These gatekeepers may have aninterest in suppressing or minimizing new theories, forexample when a new theory contradicts their ownscientific conclusions.

The success of the scientific method relies on

scientists having intellectual honesty and being willingto allow competing theories to be heard on their merits.Scientists are not pure, selfless, angelic beings. As withany human endeavor, politics, interpersonalrelationships, and selfishness play a part behind thescenes. To make sure that others can police theprocess, good science relies on transparency so thatgatekeepers cannot hide potential attempts to suppresscompeting theories. Having a large number of peopleinvolved in the peer review process also makes itharder to suppress research without getting caught bysomeone else in the reviewing process.

The peer review process can fall short in otherways too. Peer review depends on having people withthe right expertise involved in the process. Scientific

experiments are often complicated and generate largeamounts of data which can be difficult to interpret.Peer reviewers must have the right expertise todistinguish good research from bad. For example,proper statistical analysis of data can be very difficult.Even very smart scientists can easily make mistakes in



statistically analyzing their experimental results, whichcan lead to bad conclusions. If the reviewers of thatscientist ’ s work lack sufficient statistical expertise, theymight not catch the statistical mistakes, and willapprove the publication of false or flawed conclusions.

Relying on the scientific method also meansaccepting that we are capable of correctly perceivingand understanding reality, which (as I discussed above)is not necessarily something we can be sure of. Butdoes this mean there is something wrong with thescientific method? Not at all. If we adopt a “ by their

fruits ye shall know them ” standard, the scientificmethod has proven itself over and over. No otherapproach to discovering truth has yielded betterresults.

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In this fourth post of the series of posts ondiscovering truth, I continue my discussion of differentways we can discover truth

6) Feelings

More often than we ’ d probably like to admit, werely on emotion to shape our beliefs. We frequently useour powers of reason to justify our already-heldemotion-based beliefs, rather than starting without any

conclusions and reasoning our way to the bestconclusion based on the available information.Oftentimes, we decide what to believe based on what“ feels ” right, rather than a conscious application of onany of the other five different ways for discoveringtruth which I have discussed above.



Eureka Moments

Research and experience indicate that emotionsand unconscious flashes of insight can be important in

making decisions and discoveries.1

In his 1971 essay“ The Eureka Phenomenon, ” Isaac Asimov explainsthat many scientific discoveries are made when thescientist has a flash of inspiration which leads to thesolution of a problem. Such “ eureka ” moments do notcome from a rational conscious process, but probablyfrom subconscious processing by the brain. Even afterthe conscious brain has stopped thinking about a

problem, it appears that other parts of the braincontinue to work on it. Einstein and many otherscientists describe experiencing this effect whenmaking some of their most important discoveries.Indeed, the very term “ eureka ” originates from a(likely apocryphal ( Being of questionable authenticity ))story about the great ancient Greek mathematicianArchimedes, who had a sudden flash of insight whilevisiting the public baths; when the insight came to him,he reportedly leapt out of the bath, shouted “ eureka! ” (Greek for “ I have found ” ) and ran home nakedbecause he was so eager to test his discovery. 2

There is much that we don ’ t understand about howour brain works and how we form opinions and makedecisions. Each of us would like to think that we

understand why we do what we do. We think that weare good at introspection and self-understanding.Much research shows however, that we may notunderstand our own decision processes as well as wethink we do. Research shows that all of us create

justifications to explain our decisions or beliefs, even



though we do not really consciously understand thereal reasons why our brains arrived at that decision orbelief. 3

Our feelings’

subconscious influence on ourthoughts and decisions and flashes of insight are both apart of human cognitive function. They are probablyan inescapable part of how we think, and can be quiteuseful. But our lack of awareness of how theseprocesses work can lead to bias and a false level of certainty in decisions that are not rational. Thescientific method has proven itself to be so powerful

because peer review requires that other people critiquea scientist ’ s work. Each of us have cognitive blind spotsand biases that are impossible to see ourselves, but thatothers can help us spot.

Religion and Morality

In addition to the way that emotion affects how wethink, it also influences our beliefs about religious andmoral truth. Frequently, people form religiousconvictions about a religion ’ s truthfulness based onpersonal emotional experiences with the religion. ManyChristian churches call this religious emotionalexperience “ the spirit, ” “ feeling the spirit, ” or“ accepting Jesus in your heart. ” This feeling is oftendescribed as a warm feeling in one ’ s chest; a pleasant

sensation which makes a person want to do good; afeeling of peace; or a feeling of light and peace flowinginto one ’ s mind and heart. In the Book of Galatians inthe Christian New Testament, it says that “ the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness,goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. ”



(Galatians 5:22-23 NIV). 4 In the Gospel of John Jesussays that “ [w]hen the Advocate comes, whom I willsend to you from the Father — the Spirit of truth whogoes out from the Father — he will testify about me. ” (John 15:26 NIV). 5

This spiritual feeling has been studied bypsychologists. Academics call it this feeling “ elevation. ” Elevation, as defined by psychologists, involves a desireto act morally and is characterized by a feeling of warmth in the chest. 6 Elevation appears to be auniversal human emotion just like anger or love – felt

by people in all religions. Other religious experienceshave also been found to be caused biologically, such asreligious visions caused by temporal lobe epilepsy tothe “ God helmet ” (a helmet which projects magneticfields into certain parts of the brain) causing people tofeel God ’ s presence. 7

The behaviors we call “ ethical ” or “ good ” are

generally the behaviors that make living in humancommunities successful (an upcoming series of postswill discuss morality and ethics in more detail).Humans who banded together to cooperate, shareresources, and provide mutual protection would likelyhave been more successful than humans who did notband together. Because of their greater success, suchbands of cooperative humans would have had the most

children and thus passed on their genes to subsequentgenerations. There thus would have been selectivepressure to encourage the spread of genes fosteringpersonality traits like cooperation, group cohesiveness,sharing, and empathy. Elevation likely evolved becauseit provided a survival advantage – people who feel a



positive emotional response when they act morally aremore likely to continue acting morally. And such moralbehavior is essential for a group of people to be able tosurvive and be successful. We feel elevation becausemodern humans couldn ’ t have evolved without it.

The problem with relying solely on emotionalexperience when trying to find truth is that our feelingsare an imperfect guide. Feeling elevation tells youwhen you ’ re doing something moral, or thinking aboutsomething moral. But it is not an absolute guide. Forexample, people are more likely to feel elevation when

they help people in their nearby environment – peoplethey can see. This makes evolutionary sense – therewould be no reason to develop the ability to feelelevation when helping far-off unseen people, becauseour ancestors lived in an environment where the onlypeople they knew about and with whom they hadinteractions were the people in their immediate localenvironment. For this reason, people in the developedworld give money to things like cancer and AIDSresearch, because these diseases affect people theyknow. But their money would have a far greater effectto help the lives of other human beings if they gave it tocharities that provided clean drinking water, sanitationfacilities, and malaria treatments in the third world.Diarrhea and malaria are much bigger problemsoverall than cancer or AIDS, but they afflict people infar-off developing countries, and it doesn ’ t make mostrich people feel as good to fight them, so they give lessmoney to such causes.



A Systematic Approach to Spiritual Feelings:

We are often wrong when we generalize from ourpersonal experience, because our personal experience

is not broad enough to make valid generalizations. Iselevation really a divinely-created emotion which leadsus to truth? Maybe. If you feel elevation in a certainchurch does that mean that the church ’ s teachings areactually true? Maybe. But how can you definitivelyconfirm this?

You would need at least three things:

1. Peer review: To overcome the problems withconfirmation bias and other cognitive problems whichmay distort your conclusion, you would need to submityour conclusions to testing by others not of your faith,and you would need to be willing to accept theircriticisms of your methods and change yourconclusions and methods as a result of their criticisms.

2. Experimental controls: How can you know themeaning and import of spiritual feelings you ’ ve feltfrom one particular religion, without something tocompare it to? You should test a variety of otherreligions and sacred texts outside of your own faith (inan unbiased way, willing to accept that those texts andreligions might also be true) to determine whether theyalso produce spiritual feelings.

3. Good record keeping: because of confirmationbias it is likely you will remember when spiritualfeelings or impressions were later confirmed true, butwill tend to forget the ones that were later provenwrong. If you felt a spiritual feeling which seemingly



confirmed the truth of a religion, how many times haveyou interacted with that religion and didn ’ t feel thosespiritual feelings? You should keep track of all of yourspiritual feelings and impressions and tabulate theirsuccess rate.

A Short Experiment – Comparing Descriptions of Spiritual Feelings from Different Religions:

It is interesting to read people ’ s personaldescriptions of religious experience. People from verydifferent religions often use similar words to describe

their spiritual experiences.I ’ ve collected a sample of people ’ s descriptions of

religious conversion or spiritual revelation. Thefollowing twenty quotes are from practicing Atheists,Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus, Muslims, Mormons, NewAgers, Protestants, and Universal Unitarians. Try toguess which quote comes from which religion (somereligions are used more than once). I havestandardized the language (changes indicated bybrackets ), so that differences in terminology betweenreligions will not tip you off (thus, mosque, temple andchurch are all become a [church]; the Bible and allother religious texts become a [text] or [sacred text]).

Try to match these 8 religions to the following 20quotes. The answer key is below:

AtheistBuddhistCatholicHinduIslam



MormonNew Age

Protestant

Universal Unitarian1. “ I felt a burning in my heart, and a great burden

seemed to have left me. ” 8

2. “ But what can I say? How can I describe anexperience so profound and so beautiful? Shall I saythat it was the most blessed experience of my life? ShallI say that [God] touched my heart and gave me afeeling of peace I had not known before? Shall Idescribe the tears that flowed freely from my eyes,affirming my . . . faith, as I . . . beg[ed] [God's]blessings for myself and for those I love? ” 9

3. “ The sense I had of divine things, would often of a sudden kindle up, as it were, a sweet burning in myheart; an ardor of soul, that I know not how toexpress. ” 10

4. “ As I read these books in a . . . bookstore, . . . Ifelt a burning in my heart that I should come andinvestigate. ” 11

5. “ [Even as a child], [w]ithout understandingmuch about the complex [doctrine] . . . he was

attracted to [church]. There he often felt a strongfeeling of peace flowing through his body. ” 12

6. “ I was praying . . . when I felt a burning shaft of .. . love come through my head and into my heart. ” 13



7. “ I truly [sic] wanted to know [the truth]. After afew weeks, I stumbled onto [texts] which . . . answeredmy questions in a way that I had not heard of before. Iread everything . . . and I even tried the experiment of asking [God] for . . . his divine love. After about 6weeks, I felt a burning in my chest and a sensation thatwas unlike anything I had ever felt. It was purehappiness and peace. I knew then that [God] had sentHis love to me. ” 14

8. “ A feeling of peace and certitude would tell mewhen I had found the answers and often after people

would help me by pointing in the right direction. ”15

9. “ We gave up a lot of things. What did I get inreturn? I received a feeling of peace, hope and security.I no longer lay awake at night worrying. I stoppedcussing ( Utter obscenities or profanities ). I becamemuch more honest in all aspects of my life. [God] haschanged my heart and my life. My husband ’ s heart is

changing also. We pray all the time and really feel[God ’ s] presence in our marriage. My perspective haschanged. My view of life has changed about what istruly important. ” 16

10. “ Many women described a feeling of euphoriaafter they committed to following [God] . . . . Onewoman described a feeling of peace; she said: ‘ It is like

you are born again and you can start all over again,free from sin. ’” 17

11. “ A feeling of peace seemed to flow into me witha sense of togetherness . . . . . I felt very peaceful frominside and also felt [warmth] . . . . ” 18



12. “ I felt a burning sensation in my heart. ” 19

13. “ That inner light, that we all have or had atsome time in our existence, was nearly burnt out for

me. But in the [church] . . . I found a feeling of peace,inner solitude and quietness that I ’ d also found inreading the [text] and pondering over its meaning andtrying to practice what it tells us. ” 20

14. “ For the first time I not only felt accountablefor my past sins but I had to fight back tears. I knewthat I had let down [God] [and] my family . . . .

However, I also knew I was forgiven! [It] gave me afeeling of peace that I have never felt it in my wholelife. I felt like I had a huge weight lifted off of me andthat I was finally home and free . . . . I felt like a newperson. ” 21

15. “ Every time I am there [at the church building],a feeling of peace overcomes me. ” 22

16. “ Every time I was with the [church members], Ifelt this warm feeling, a feeling of peace and for thefirst time in my life since my church-going days, Iwanted to follow [God] . . . . ” 23

17. “ About 10 years ago, when Jenny and I decidedto start a family, we began looking for a spiritualcommunity for our kids. During my first service at [the

church]. . . I was hooked. I recall the feeling of peacethat I felt when I was attending [services]. ” 24

18. “ The power of [God] came into me then. I hadthis warm and overwhelming feeling of peace and



security. It ’ s hard to explain. I had to . . . stop myself from falling backward. ” 25

19. “ [The religious leader] looked into my eyes

deeply for a moment, and I experienced a feeling of peace and love unlike anything I had ever experiencedbefore. ” 26

20. “ [After praying,] [i]mmediately I was floodedwith a deep feeling of peace, comfort, and hope. ” 27

21. “ I recently spent an afternoon on thenorthwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, atop themount where Jesus is believed to have preached hismost famous sermon. . . . As I sat and gazed upon thesurrounding hills gently sloping to an inland sea, afeeling of peace came over me. It soon grew to a blissfulstillness that silenced my thoughts. In an instant, thesense of being a separate self — an “ I ” or a “ me ”—

vanished. . . . The experience lasted just a fewmoments, but returned many times as I gazed out overthe land where Jesus is believed to have walked,gathered his apostles, and worked many of hismiracles. ” 28

The answers are in the next paragraph. My pointhere is not to say that any of these people ’ s experiencesare invalid or that they are not valuable, or thatreligion is bad (I am an active church-goer myself).Nor am I trying to say that this proves any certainreligion to be true or false – just that spiritualexperiences are a universal human emotion, and that,

just like any emotional experience, they are not enoughby themselves to be reliable indicators of absolutetruth. This is easy to demonstrate using religious



experiences, since the claims of most of these religionsare contradictory. Thus, if one of the above religionswere true in the absolute sense, many or most of theothers would be false. Many or most of the abovepeople ’ s religious experiences, therefore, could nothave been reliable indicators of the truth.

Answers: 1. Protestant; 2. Islam; 3. Protestant; 4.Catholic; 5. Hindu; 6. Catholic; 7. New Age; 8. Islam;9. Protestant; 10. Islam; 11. Hindu; 12. Protestant; 13.Islam; 14. Catholic; 15. Buddhist; 16. Mormon; 17.Universal Unitarian; 18. Catholic; 19. Hindu; 20.

Protestant; 21. Atheist

Conclusions

Most of my conclusions in this section are tentative.I have not been able to find much peer-reviewedresearch to help me evaluate my reasoning. But myopinion in this section seems to be consistent with ourcurrent scientific understanding of evolution andbiology. If you are aware of any good research orarguments, which refute or confirm what I ’ ve written – please share!

In the absence of good empirical information, I amforced to rely on my personal experience. In mypersonal experience I have had eureka moments wherea sudden flash of insight provided a solution to aproblem, but sometimes those eureka insights havebeen wrong. I have felt spiritual feelings of elevationfrom a variety of sacred texts from different religions. Ithink that feelings of elevation are very important andthat they usually lead us to act more morally, but they



have not had as good of a track record in helping mediscover objective truth.

In the final part of this series, I will evaluate all the

different methods for finding truth and give some finalthoughts.

1 For example, see

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Somatic_markers_hypothesis and

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Dec

ision_making#Neuroscience_perspective

2 For more information about this, see theWikipedia article about the Eureka effect:

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Eureka_effect

3 https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Introspection_illusion

4 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%205:22-23;&version1=31

5

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john %2015:26&version1=31

6 Haidt, J. “ Elevation and the positive psychologyof morality ,” in C. Keyes and J. Haidt (eds.),Flourishing: Positive psychology and the life well-lived .

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/So


https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Eur

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Introsp

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatia

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatia

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Introsp

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Eur


https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/So



Washington, D. C.: American PsychologicalAssociation (2003).

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Posi

tive_psychology#The_meaningful_life 7

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/God_helmet ;http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104291534 ;http://www.npr.org/2010/12/15/132078267/neurotheolo

gy-where-religion-and-science-collide 8 From Clifton Johnson, et. al., “ God Struck Me

Dead: Voices of Ex-Slaves, ” 1969, p. 126 (from oralhistories of illiterate ex-slaves in the American South)

http://books.google.com/books?id=FKbHRp_z3uoC&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq=conversion+church+%22I+felt+a+burning%22&source=bl&ots=sWUNhIa6vf&sig=wxqiQYm2p7MadSZbAVXOepU7_rg&hl=en&ei=h8pSTaGrOZGmsQPxgoGgBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CCsQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=conversion%20church%20%22I%20felt%20a%20burning%22&f=false

9 Description of pilgrimage to Mecca.

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1158658483237&pagename=Zone-English-Living_Shariah%2FLSELayout

10 Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) famousAmerican preacher and theologian.


https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/God_he

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/15/132078267/neurotheolo

http://books.google.com/books?id=FKbHRp_z3uoC

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Arti

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Arti

http://books.google.com/books?id=FKbHRp_z3uoC

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/15/132078267/neurotheolo

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/God_he




http://books.google.com/books?id=jq0RAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=%22The+sense+I+had+of+divine+things,+would+often+of+a+sudden+kindle+up,+as+it+were,+a+sweet+burning+in+my+heart;+an+ardor+of+soul,+that+I+know+not+how+to+express.+%22&source=bl&ots=mVYqHINNUa&sig=iK5_cNtQhqVdg7MkmhcQRmfTkas&hl=en&ei=rexeTd-mEI74sAOEk9HACA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CCQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%22The%20sense%20I%20had%20of%20divine%20things%2C%20would%20often%20of%20a%20sudden%20kindle%20up%2C%20as%20it%20were%2C%20a%20sweet%20burning%20in%20my%20heart%3B%20an%20ardor%20of%20soul%2C%20that%20I%20know%20not%20how%20to%20express.%20%22&f=false

11 About a famous apparition of the Virgin Maryin the former Yugoslavia.

http://www.medjugorje.ws/en/articles/mark -miravalle/

12 Describing a Hindu guru ’ s early spiritualexperiences.

http://www.nativeplanet.org/health/yoga/swami/swami2.htm

13 A nun describing what she felt when called tobecome a nun.

http://www.olivben.org/Novitiate/Our_Newest_Novitiates/

http://books.google.com/books?id=jq0RAAAAYAA

http://www.medjugorje.ws/en/articles/mark

http://www.nativeplanet.org/health/yoga/swami/sw

http://www.olivben.org/Novitiate/Our_Newest_Nov

http://www.olivben.org/Novitiate/Our_Newest_Nov

http://www.nativeplanet.org/health/yoga/swami/sw

http://www.medjugorje.ws/en/articles/mark

http://books.google.com/books?id=jq0RAAAAYAA



14 The author of this forum post describes learninginformation from spirits revealing what happens afterwe die.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/religion -philosophy/1057532-how-can-you-sure-what-happens-7.html

15 Describing conversion to Islam.

http://www.mwlcanada.org/publications/whywe.pdf

16

http://www.mvcf.com/people/testimonies/test_lAbsher .htm

17 Describing women ’ s feelings after converting toIslam

http://books.google.com/books?id=Z9WF1fRGOsQC&lpg=PA239&ots=Jt7napqEze&dq=%22a%20feeling%20of%20peace%22&pg=PA239#v=onepage&q&f=f alse

18 Descriptions of two different people about theirencounter with a guru ( (Buddhism) a Hindu orBuddhist religious leader and spiritual teacher ).

http://www.siddha-loka.org/newsletter2010.html

19 From a Muslim who converted to Christianity,describing the feelings he felt at the start of the chainof events which would lead to his conversion.

http://www.4marks.com/articles/details.html?article_id=4989

http://www.city-data.com/forum/religion


http://www.mvcf.com/people/testimonies/test_lAbsher

http://books.google.com/books?id=Z9WF1fRGOsQ


http://www.4marks.com/articles/details.html?articl

http://www.4marks.com/articles/details.html?articl


http://books.google.com/books?id=Z9WF1fRGOsQ

http://www.mvcf.com/people/testimonies/test_lAbsher


http://www.city-data.com/forum/religion



20 Describing her conversion to Islam.

http://www.islamicgarden.com/dressedwhite.html

21 Describing her return to Catholicism.

http://www.ancient-future.net/cbstory.html

22 Describing his feelings at the Buddhist stupa ( Adome-shaped shrine erected by Buddhists ) onDhauligiri in India.

http://www.localyte.com/attraction/11416--Dhauli -

Peace-Pagoda--India--Orissa--Bhubaneswar 23 Describing conversion to Mormonism

Http://www.mormonconverts.com/catholic/a -longing-for-the-spirit.htm

24 Describing his experiences with meditation torecapture the feelings of peace he used to feel at

church, but no longer does because his children makeit difficult to concentrate.

http://www.firstparishbeverly.org/LL-102509 -1.htm

25 Describing getting a blessing from the priest.

http://conversionstories.org/category/conversion -

stories/catholic-conversions/

26 Really neo-Hindu. Describing an encounter withMaharishi Mahesh Yogi.

http://www.allawaken.net/html/who_am_i_.html



http://www.localyte.com/attraction/11416--Dhauli

http://www.mormonconverts.com/catholic/a

http://www.firstparishbeverly.org/LL-102509

http://conversionstories.org/category/conversion



http://conversionstories.org/category/conversion

http://www.firstparishbeverly.org/LL-102509

http://www.mormonconverts.com/catholic/a

http://www.localyte.com/attraction/11416--Dhauli





27 An experience of a Protestant who later beganthe process of converting to Catholicism.

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=2219

2 28 Famous Atheist Sam Harris talking about the

feelings he gets when he meditates, regardless of thereligious situation in which he encounters himself.

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/sam_harris/2007/01/consciousness_without_faith_1.html

5-

Now that I ’ ve discussed some of the different wayshumans try to figure out truth, which method is best?To recap, I discussed six ways to discover truth:observation, trial and error, common sense,authorities, the scientific method, or emotions?

Most of us rely on observation, trial and error,common sense, authorities, and emotions to makeeveryday decisions. Each of these methods cansometimes be wrong, but they are quick, and usuallyeasy to apply. People don ’ t do peer-reviewed studies tofigure out which sandwich they should order for lunch.It would take too much time and cost too much relative

to the expected benefit of getting better informationabout sandwich options. Even scientists generally relyon these five methods to make decisions in their day-to-day lives.

Jesus said “ you will know them by their fruits. ” 1 When we compare the results of each of the six


http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/paneli

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/paneli




methods, the scientific method has proven itself farsuperior to anything else at being able to give answerswhich are reproducible and which allow us to makeaccurate predictions about the future. That you arereading this blog post right now is proof of that.Computers and the Internet exist because physicistsand engineers applying the scientific method madeinnumerable discoveries about things like the behaviorof electrons and photons, mathematics, and thephysical properties of different materials which wereapplied to create computers and communicationsnetworks.

It happens far more often that “ discoveries ” madeusing one of the other five methods are conclusivelyproven to be wrong by the scientific methods, than fordiscoveries made using the scientific method to beproven wrong by one of the other five methods.Scientific discoveries are often proven wrong, butalmost always by someone else applying the scientificmethod. While the scientific method is not alwaysright, it has proven to be far more accurate thananything else humans have been able to come up with.

So what should you do if, when using any of theother five methods, you reach a conclusion thatcontradicts what has been discovered using thescientific method? It should raise a big red flag. The

contradiction doesn ’ t necessarily mean that science isright and your conclusion is wrong, but more oftenthan not, your contradictory conclusion probably willbe wrong.



Some people have criticized science for beingamoral – it does not answer moral questions aboutproper human behavior. This concern has somevalidity. Since morality often entails making value

judgments about the relative propriety of differentactivities, we can ’ t make moral judgments withoutknowing ahead of time what sorts of outcomes andactions are most desirable. David Hume pointed outthe “ is-ought ” problem with science and morality:morality seeks to define what ought to be, whereasscience is good at telling us what is.2 Knowing what is does not necessarily tell us what ought to be.

This is where the power of emotion comes in. As Idiscussed in Part 4 3 of this series, powerful positiveemotions like spiritual feelings of elevation likelyevolved to induce us to act morally. Laboratory studieshave shown that participants who were induced to feelelevation were more likely to act altruisticallyafterward. 4 For example, religious people 5 are morelikely to donate to charity (even when you excludedonations that they make to their own church) 6 andare less likely to have had an extramarital affair. 7 (Iwill soon be starting a series of posts discussingmorality in more depth). This is where religion andspiritual feelings really prove their value. If we arelooking at fruits, emotion and feelings seem to be poorguides to discovering objective truth, but verypowerfully help us to internalize moral truth.

Conclusion:

Even though we can never be completely certainthat we understand objective truth and reality, the



business of living requires us to seek truth as best wecan and live according to what we discover. Ourdeterminations of “ truth ” are really based onprobabilities. Based on the six methods I ’ ve discussed,we (usually unconsciously) make a conclusion aboutwhat seems most probable and treat it as if it weretrue. Most of us internalize this conclusion so well thatwe assume our conclusion is true in the absolute sense.We shouldn ’ t think this way – none of us have all of theanswers. We are all fallible and imperfect. All of usbelieve things that are wrong.

We can ’ t improve our thoughts and ideas to moreclosely match reality if we can ’ t even recognize thatwe ’ re wrong. Even though we treat our high-probability conclusions as being true, we shouldn ’ t letthat make us close-minded. We shouldn ’ t internalizethis feeling of certainty such that we reject anythingthat contradicts our previous conclusions. It isimportant to have the mental discipline to internallyrecognize that our conclusions are uncertain. Weshould evaluate new claims and ideas on their merit,with an open mind, and be willing to accept newconclusions and new approaches.

We apply all of the six methods I ’ ve discussed tofind truth. The scientific method has proven itself to bethe most useful approach we ’ ve yet found to

discovering truth, but positive emotions play animportant role in inducing us to internalize moraltruth.

Footnotes



1Matthew 7:20 (NRSV).

2https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Is â“ ought_problem

3http://www.theamateurthinker.com/2011/03/2011/02/how-can-we-find-truth-part-4/

4http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100203121600.htm

5The relationship between religiosity and these twoexamples of moral behavior (charitable donations and

marital fidelity) do not explicitly show that there is arelationship between feelings and moral behavior. Myanecdotal experience, however, is that most people goto church for emotional reasons (seeking spiritualfeelings, a sense of community with others, etc.), so Ithink that these relationships may at least be indicativeof the power that feelings can have to induce us to actmorally.

6http://www.hoover.org/publications/policy -review/article/6577 .

“ The differences in charity between secular andreligious people are dramatic. Religious people are 25percentage points more likely than secularists todonate money (91 percent to 66 percent) and 23 points

more likely to volunteer time (67 percent to 44percent). And, consistent with the findings of otherwriters, these data show that practicing a religion ismore important than the actual religion itself inpredicting charitable behavior. For example, amongthose who attend worship services regularly, 92

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Is

http://www.theamateurthinker.com/2011/03/2011/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100

http://www.hoover.org/publications/policy

http://www.hoover.org/publications/policy

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100

http://www.theamateurthinker.com/2011/03/2011/

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Is



percent of Protestants give charitably, compared with91 percent of Catholics, 91 percent of Jews, and 89percent from other religions. ”

7See here and here . This relationship appears tohold in Malawi as well.

How Can We Find Truth

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