Archē

This post originally appeared as a response to the question "What is truth?" posed by a Discord user whose name I forget. It was posted in a server called Symposium, around December 7-9 of last year.

What is truth? There are layers to peel back here before we can get to the sauce.

First and foremost, truth is a word. Words are defined by other words, and words can only refer to other words. Language is circular like this. You can't get to the quintessential nature of what a thing is by merely knowing some words or by arranging words into convincing propositions or arguments. Even if you can put together a strong argument that has no conceivable counter, ultimately it doesn't mean anything. And that applies to what I'm saying as well. It's just sounds from the mouth, no different than dogs barking.

But, if you have the ear, even the barking of dogs expresses transcendent wisdom without fail. That's because truth is in accordance with reality. And reality is the totality of all things, the source from which all things come and to which they return. Every phenomenon is in its own way an expression of the all-encompassing truth. The apparent distinctness and separateness of nameable and countable things is essentially unreal.

So, truth can be defined as that which is in accordance with reality. And reality can be defined as that which is. That which is, is just thus. It is as it is and can't be any other way. That makes it the basis of all other things, because nothing else can stand on its own in this way. Everything else depends on some thing—whether it be discreteness to distinguish it from other things, laws to manifest it, or is subject to transformation or destruction according to laws or rational principles, or argumentation to justify it.

Reality in its completeness depends on nothing, and is subject to nothing. It can't be conceived or imagined by the mind, and it doesn't conform to any manner of thinking, rational or irrational. It can't even be said to exist, and still it's not non-existent. Any thought that you can have about it can't help but betray its unfathomable nature. Since truth is by definition in accordance with it, they have the same nature. And, having the same nature, truth is itself reality and vice versa. They are two names for the same thing. And the realization of this is also identical with truth and reality, so that truth, reality, and the realization of truth are all names for the same thing.