Love of Truth
Re’eh 2023
This Shabbat is the third of the seven Sabbaths between the 9th day of Av and Rosh HaShanah, the New Year. The Torah portion begins in a stark manner: “See – I have placed today before you a blessing and curse . . .” In my paraphrasing, the blessing comes when we live in a moral framework and the curse comes from our not living in a moral framework.
From a spiritual-psychological perspective, one dimension of Rosh HaShanah is the sovereignty of the Divine. From an inner life perspective, this does not just mean acknowledging that there is a God. From an inner life perspective, the idea of sovereignty in our moral and spiritual lives means that there are values that serve as the standards for our thoughts, feelings, speech and behavior.
Even pronounced atheists usually claim allegiance to truth and rationality, to moral rules and righteous living, to some authority of values.
For me, the world does not divide according to which religion a person belongs to, or whether people believe in God or not, or are not sure. For me, the world divides up into those who do and do not aim to live under the authority of values, and which values have shaping power over their lives.
The authority of values doesn’t mean you always live up to the standard. The authority of values does require, however, that we admit at least to ourselves when we don’t live up to our values.
Three core moral and spiritual values expressed by the Jewish tradition are truth, justice, and peace (Pirkei Avot 1:18).
Conflict, from interpersonal to national and international, erodes the values of truth, justice, and peace. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784, English) said, regarding truth: “Among the calamities of war may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages.” I would add the term “culture wars” to his sentiment regarding the calamities of war.
This observation is usually summarized as “Truth is the first casualty of war.” I prefer the more complex but less punchy version of Samuel Johnson. He wrote of the love of truth. Love of one’s own self-interests, one’s own politics, one’s own nation, one’s race, gender, political affiliation, one’s religion or philosophic views will often diminish the love of truth. We become dogmatic and gullible, credulous of the irrational and non-factual, when what we want to be the case about something is more important than how things are, factually and morally.
As we move toward the High Holy Days, one of the core elements of the sovereignty of values is the value of truth, on its many levels. Once one values the truth more than one’s own interests, transformative work can be done. Once one sets forth clearly the value of truth, we can establish justice and work toward peace.
Love of truth implies love of the means to find truth, to investigate our moral axioms, to learn how to discern facts, understand situations, be honest about motivations, and infer well what is happening inside of others. There are those who do not love truth; they just love being right. No argument in the world, even those based on facts or good reasoning, can dissuade those who love being right. Those who love being right have their identities wrapped up in the position that they have taken.
I begin my own work moving toward the High Holy Days with a few basics: the existence of our souls, the experience of the Divine Presence, and the soul’s response to the experience of the Divine (as we learn in Torah portion Ekev – Deuteronomy 10:12): To revere the Divine, to love the Divine, to walk in holy paths, and to live in service of the Divine, especially the moral path of righteousness. Or, as the prophet Micah says, “Do justice, love hesed and walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8)
I will add to that the following: A life and love of truth is required for virtue, rationality, wisdom, and depth. All transformative and most psychological work is focused on truth that applies to our inner lives– what is truly happening inside of us and what is truly motivating us. Our lives ought to be headed somewhere – to what is truly good and truly does lead to well-being. Our inner deceptions and dogmatisms lead to the road to perdition.
Deep consideration of these ideas has us reflect carefully on what our values are, what is sovereign in our lives, especially in our inner lives, as we journey toward the Days of Awe.
