Passion for Truth by Leszek Figurski

PASSION FOR TRUTH

Anybody who is indifferent whether something is true or not is in a grave danger of loosing any meaning of his life. Skepticism   seems to be  a trivial an shallow mode of living without any depth and  values taken seriously. One can say that skepticism is a mental narrowness, timidity and simply inexplicable denial of thinking . Thought  is the outstanding difference  between  the homo sapiens and other forms of life, therefore not using one's mind to the fullest  one sentences one's own existence to  chaotic  ultimately meaningless  existential emptiness.  In order to be truly living a human life one needs to  be not only interested in  truth  but one must become a passionate  searcher  for one's sense of living , suffering, and dying. The development of technology , the explosion of science  and the radical broadening  of men's  mental horizon  is undoubtedly  great blessing for the human race. But science, technology and  modernization of life shall not be able to answer  the most important questions for any thinking person. Such questions as  who or what is man?, why do I exist ?  why is there a universe at all ?, what happens when I die? Are we alone  in this unfeeling,  cold universe of matter alone, or is it true that the highest levels of being  are mental in nature?. Does some God exist   or are religious believers suffering  some kind of mysterious delusion?

             Such questions are extremely important for  my self-understanding , the sense or nonsense  of my existence  and most importantly my awareness of values , primarily moral values: what is morally good or morally evil . Why be moral at all?. Perhaps the demands of moral conscience  are a constricting,  suffocating unnecessary, and absurd burden in my life and nothing else  and therefore  should be relegated to the times of the Dark Ages.  Those are crucial problems to which science as such, that is experimental science,  is incompetent to give any solid  answers . Why so? Because  science deals primarily with description and mathematical expression of facts only .  But by itself   science  will never give me any solid answer to the above questions. If a person limits his/ her knowledge to what is " scientifically proven only " he/she already sentences himself /herself to mental blindness relative to the most important questions of human existence. The most universal obstacles to passionate search for truth are very many : fear of the unknown , fear of thinking seriously , a desire for easy living and spending one's time in shallow and empty but exciting form of entertainment.

              To be human is to exist towards death as   Martin Heidegger  defined  man : "A being toward death."  The mystery of death always was  and always is  a fascinating  riddle for any thinking person . Albert Camus  although not a believer in any  sort of God confessed however  his  desire and absolute demand for meaning when he said  that to die knowing why  and for what is acceptable but to see the meaning of life melt into nothingness is not anything one can live with.
               The time of life is short and one is obligated to make  a decision what to believe or not  because not to make a decision is to make a decision. By evading  my commitment  I already am accepting some vision of existence. There is no other way open for humans. That is why the passion for truth must be  in the short period of life a living dynamism of man's intellectual life. No one  can sit on two branches at the same time . The saying of  Jesus Christ comes to mind at this point : Who is not with me is against me. There is no in between  fence  sitting . The search for truth  must be done by everyone and it cannot be pushed away to somebody else. Why? Because I can live my life only myself and nobody else can live it for me , experience for me the joy of living, creativity, suffering  and  the whole adventure of existing. Because of my egocentric predicament   my vision always is and will be mine. This is why whether I am indifferent,  occasionally only interested in truth or not at all is  another call for passion for truth. When Pilate     sentenced Christ to death interrogated  Christ about His mission and nature , Christ answered that He was born  to witness to Truth. Pilate  looked at him with  cynicism  in his eyes and said : what is truth?,  - but he did not wait for an answer, he  thought that there are many other duties of a Roman governor more important than  such abstract  and fuzzy   concept.  There was no such attitude possible for Pilate  as  passion for truth.