Truth and Human Nature
One
“It’s not about truth, it’s about being a good person”
If you ask people what the fundamental obligation of all human life is, very few would probably say, “Seeking the truth.”
It’s amazing how many people think it doesn’t matter what you know, or what you believe, all that matters is that you be a “good person.”
And yet the Catechism states that seeking the truth is absolutely fundamental to human life. #2467, “Man tends by nature toward the truth. He is obliged to honor and bear witness to it: "It is in accordance with their dignity that all men, because they are persons . . . are both impelled by their nature and bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth. They are also bound to adhere to the truth once they come to know it and direct their whole lives in accordance with the demands of truth.”
So pursuing the truth is part of human nature, it’s part of his dignity, it is something that nature and morality demand of him. And everyone’s whole life has to be organized around truth.
So the question is: how can the truth be such a core obligation of human life?
Two
Happiness
When the Catechism says that man tends towards nature to the truth, we mean that truth is something man needs in order to flourish. Man tends towards food by nature, man tends towards sleep by nature, and man tends towards friendship and beauty by nature.
What does that mean? It means these are the things the human person needs in order to be happy. And it really is the case that we aren’t satisfied without truth.
Nobody wants to be intellectually lost. Nobody wants to be an ignoramus. Nobody wants to be clueless. Nobody wants to have no idea what’s going on.
Children ask “why”? over and over again, because they want to know how the world works. And adults complain, “Nobody tells me anything.”
Things we desire by nature are things we are supposed to pursue. We all desire food and sleep, so we’re all supposed to eat and go to bed. So since we all desire truth, we’re all supposed to pursue the truth. And the ultimate truth to pursue is the ultimate truth about things: What’s the meaning of human life? Who is Jesus? Who is God? What has God done? What does God want from me?
These are the ultimate truths by which our map of reality gets filled in. Without that, big portions of the map stay blank, which is less humanly satisfying for everyone.
Three
Doing Good
The great mistake of people who think it’s possible to “be a good person” without knowing the truth is that they forget that there’s no way anyone can be a good person unless they know what it takes to be a good person.
You can’t pursue the good unless you know the truth about what the good actually is. That’s why the truth sets you free, as Jesus says.
Knowing how a car works, knowing the traffic laws, knowing where the other cars on the road are – if you don’t know that stuff, you can’t be a good driver. If you don’t know how the human person works, if you don’t know God’s moral teaching as expressed through the Scriptures and the Church, and if you don’t know the goal of human existence, eternal happiness with God in Heaven, you can’t live well. And how can you “be a good person” if you’re not even willing to pursue the truth that’s necessary to living a good life?
That’s why pursuing the truth isn’t just a human obligation, it’s also a moral obligation.
Four
The Promise of Knowing what we don’t yet know
We’ve said that we were made to know the truth and that this knowledge of truth is indispensable to happiness.
The Catholic Church gives us the greatest quantity and depth of truth available in this life. That is, in fact, one of the greatest joys of being a Catholic. And yet, there are still fundamental truths we want but can’t get, fundamental questions we asked that yet remain unanswered.
“Dear God,” we say. “What’s the right decision in this particular situation? Dear God, why would you allow that to happen? Dear God, what’s going to happen to this person I love? Dear God, how is your Church going to survive? And how are You going to make everything all right in the end? I don’t understand,” we say. “I don’t understand.”
The Psalmist says he does not seek knowledge that is too high for him. And the intricacies of God’s plan, that we simply can’t know in all its detail down here. But this is one of the great promises of Heaven, that the mind hungry for truth, the soul that wants to understand – in Heaven, we will understand.
One day, all that is concealed will be revealed. And our minds, like our hearts, we rest content.
Five
The Nightmare of Atheism
Chesterton says that the great nightmare of atheism is that the whole universe is a riddle with no answer. No answer to the question, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” No answer to the question, “Why is there suffering?” No answer to the question, “How should we live?” No answer to the question: “What does any of it mean?”
Let’s thank the good Lord for His generosity to us: allowing us to be members of this community, this Church, that provides us with the truth. The clearest, most satisfying truth about the word, ourselves, God, and existence. And the promise of the full truth that will answer every question we have, with perfect clarity, in the life to come.