IMPRESSIONS

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Sitong Zhang
Pittsburgh Standard

There are many people out there that loved the movie 'Inception'. I found myself in awe of the ideas being jumbled around in the movie.

Many people were debating whether or not the top would stop spinning or continue to spin at the end.

Personally, I believe that the movie was sending a more important message to us the audience, which is “Are you dreaming right now or are you in reality?”

The more philosophical question would be “Am I still in the cave?”.

Of course I am referring to the allegory of the cave, a famous philosophical idea by the classical philosopher Plato.  Many of the great movies (Matrix, Memento, A Beautiful Mind, etc.) focus on this cave and of reality and truth.

What is truth?

Are there many truths or is there only one truth?

If truths contradict each other are they still true?

Do our senses perceive truth?

We could be in a matrix or asleep.

Can we say something is true if we don’t know for sure?

Many Agnostics would ask Christians “How can you claim to know the truth? If Christianity is certain then prove it to me.”

So then follows, is truth certain?

I would say that there is only one Truth and that truth cannot be achieved without wisdom and logic and reasoning. One cannot come to truth through science even though that is the ultimate goal of science. Since we can think we must exist so there must be a truth.

However does knowing the truth really matter?

Can we ever truly know the truth?

I would argue that knowing the truth does not matter but wanting to know the truth matters. Because of this desire of truth it will lead you down a path of discovery and wisdom.

So then what is truth?

Many philosophers, lovers of wisdom, have come to the conclusion that God is Truth. Yet this does not satisfy the masses.

Rene Descartes tries to prove God in an interesting way. He says that human beings all have a desire for more even when we have enough. Even if we are the best at something we want to be better. Descartes would say that this is our desire for perfection. Thus follows that, to exist is to be perfect and to not exist is to be imperfect. Therefore, since God is perfect and we have a notion of what perfection is, God must exist.

Even though there are many problems with this proof, I do not believe that knowing the truth is the important thing. The important thing is the desire for truth. I believe the desire for truth will lead one to God.

Stone Zhang is a member of Asian Student Alliance and Pitt Asian-InterVarsity.

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