Experience: The Basis Of Our Faith
Part 1: What Is Truth?
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RABBON SHIMON BEN GAMLIEL SAID: BY THREE THINGS IS THE WORLD PRESERVED - BY TRUTH, BY JUDGEMENT, AND BY PEACE, AS IT IS SAID, "JUDGE THE TRUTH AND THE JUDGMENT OF PEACE IN YOUR GATES." (Zechariah 8:16)
(ETHICS OF THE FATHERS - Chapter 1)
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What is Truth?
 How can we determine 'truth'? Is it subjective or objective... that is, is it as we 'know' it, or is it something real 'out there', outside of our bodies?
How can we verify that 'truth'?
In order to begin the search for truth and to comprehend why it is fundamental for the world’s continuance, we must understand how we 'know' things. We must recognize that were it not for the five senses that Hashem implanted in Man, he would have no contact with anything outside his own body. Were it not for the senses of smell, taste, touch, sight, and sound... he would know nothing. Man would have no knowledge of a world outside his skin.
The pleasant aromas of flowers, the sight of a fire, the softness of a couch, the singing of a bird, the sweetness of sugar would never reach his brain to interpret these stimuli as events that he is experiencing.
It is precisely that natural process just described, and in that order, which we call 'knowing'. But that process is predicated on our bodies having receptors to receive the stimuli from the events on the outside. The energies, emanating from the source, through the medium of light, sound and/or other waves, bombard our eyes, our ears, and our nose. Because these receptors are sensitive to the stimuli, that are then conveyed to our brain, we 'see' the fire, 'hear' the crackling of the burning wood, 'smell' the smoke, and we 'know' that there is a fire.
Seeing the fire is NOT the fire itself, however, for if it were the fire, our eyes would burn. It is merely an abstraction. We are only extracting some distillation of what is 'out there'. We can 'see' the fire and not 'smell' the smoke, and not 'feel' the heat if it is miles away. The more receptors involved in the process of 'knowing,' the more reliable the mental conclusions our brain reaches.
Having established that knowledge is 'knowing' what is happening or existing outside our bodies, and the vehicles to receive that knowledge are our five senses, we can reasonably say that we are reporting the 'truth' when our knowledge is congruent with what it 'out there'. If we report something that is not out there, then that is not 'truth'. As an example, if we 'see' a fire, but there is no fire 'out there' our 'seeing' is untrue.
Now is such a thing possible?
Of course it is. People lie. Why? For many reasons...to cheat, to hide, for ego, and more. But they also actually 'see' things that are not 'out there'. Are the receptors of our body the only means of receiving stimuli to send to the brain for processing? For a healthy person...yes! But there are people whose receptors and/or mental and emotional systems have gone haywire in varying degrees, who can conjure up sights, smells, sounds, feelings, tastes from WITHIN their own skins.....without their receptors having been stimulated by some independent event 'out there'. They see things that aren't 'out there'. They 'smell' aromas that do not exist; they 'feel' objects that aren't there. They are hallucinating. Mental institutions are filled with these people who are emotionally and mentally ill. We call that insanity.
They have their own reality, their own 'truth', and adjust their lives accordingly for their own survival. These are the Napoleons, the Bat Men, who jump out of 5 storey windows thinking they can fly. Sorrowfully, these people are sick, and because of their being a potential danger to themselves or to others, society provides for their safety.
The element of ‘truth’ upon which the world is preserved, and which Rabbon Shimon ben Gamliel is enunciating, is the recognition of relating knowledge with an event or experience outside one's body. Man, society, in order to exist must be in harmony with what is outside a person's body.
We can continue to exist only if we live lives based on 'truth'. It doesn't only mean that we must 'see' the car speeding at us and react quickly by jumping out of its way in order to save our body. It means more. It means that we must save our sanity by recognizing the ethical and moral 'truths' that sustain society, and us, and filter out the 'untruths' that invade our systems so that they do not pervert our minds and our souls. It means that we must start with our very young and teach them 'truths' from the moment they can react to information we feed them and which their young unpolluted brains begin processing. It means that we must abandon inculcating them with the falsehoods of fairy tales, tooth fairies, goblins, ghosts and Jack in the Beanstalk stories, all ‘untruths’. If we want to develop clear thinking analytical minds, and give our children the tools to navigate the realities of life we must teach them ‘truths’ that conform with what is ‘out there’. Let's keep in mind that a young child cannot distinguish fact from fantasy, especially when the authority figure of mommy and daddy relate that fairy tale with total sincerity. Do we not confuse and disrupt the healthy process of learning when we feed our children images of things that aren't out there? How can the young twig, distortedly bent in one way over a period of time, be made to grow straight again?
The approach of Torah education reveals the contrast with that of the rest of the world. When a young Jewish child has absorbed the basic foundation of learning... davening, Chumash, Rashi, halacha, he is then introduced to Mishna. He is introduced to the beauty of Torah in a form that ties his teachings to life 'out there', to truth.
Let me illustrate:
We do not start by teaching a child about the concepts of Justice, Honesty, Truthfulness, Kindness, Empathy, etc., because it would be no different from teaching him fairy tales. He can't imagine a fairy, other that what his young mind creates from within himself, nor can he know what Justice or Honesty or Truthfulness is since we have not taught him by example.
The Mishna uses the deductive method of reasoning... case history. It starts with an event, "Two people are pulling on a garment. Each says I found it and it's all mine!" What do we do? The Mishna provides the answer, saying that in order to dissuade a possible liar, each swears that he claims not less than half of the article...and the judges divide it. What we have done here is derive a principle of Justice from an event. The primary event is outside the observer, which he experienced through his senses. The student ‘saw’, he 'heard', through as many of his five senses and subsequently abstracted the principles of 'Justice', 'Honesty', which is an internal, brain activity.
We have accomplished 3 things:
We have nurtured the natural process of learning,... the stimuli coming from outside one's body and being received by the senses, and then processed by the brain to refine it to higher levels of abstractions, or principles.
We have demonstrated that Torah nurtures sanity. Torah demands TRUTH.... 'knowing' means that whatever is conceived in one's head is conforming to what is 'out there'. Otherwise it is a lie, and it leads to insanity. Torah is Truth and the Seal of Hashem is Truth.
We have seen the serendipity of this ingrained approach to life in our own people. Jews have developed a sense of what is real, attainable and practical. When the situation demanded that Jews risk their lives to save fellow Jews, knowing 'realistically' that the world would never sanction an activity as Entebbe... Jews were realistic in their decision to act on their own. Our Arab adversaries, on the other hand, have never failed to confuse a defeat with a victory.
Our great Torah scholars knew well how to approach the leaders of their world in times of need. They prepared well by restudying the lessons of Father Jacob in his presentations to Esau. They knew how to plead quietly, diplomatically behind the scenes, recognizing the 'reality' of quiet diplomacy as opposed to zealots who often attempted 'fantasy-like' confrontations, to force an issue without the clout of the force.
To foster sanity and the perpetuation of man and society, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel highlights the essence of the Torah...Truth, as a fundamental ingredient.
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RABBON SHIMON BEN GAMLIEL SAID: BY THREE THINGS IS THE WORLD PRESERVED - BY TRUTH....
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But how do we verify the 'truth'? How do we 'know' that what one 'sees' conforms to what is 'out there'? Who is right when we see different things?
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