Francis Bacon – On Truth
“What is truth?” Pilate mockingly asked, not waiting for an answer. There is certainly some satisfaction in instability, as holding onto faith is considered a slavery that threatens freedom of will in both thought and action. Although there are no longer philosophical sects of that kind, there are still some wise men in whom the same blood flows, although not to the extent as in the old ones. However, what makes falsehood more appealing is not only the difficulties and efforts that people endure in finding the truth, nor the fact that once found, it curbs human thought, but the natural, albeit corrupted, love for falsehood itself. One of the later Greek schools examines this question and attempts to understand why people love falsehood, not when they lie for pleasure as poets do, or for profit as merchants do, but when they lie for the sake of falsehood itself. I don’t know what to say: truth is like the full light of day, which does not illuminate the masks, parades, and celebrations of this world half as dazzlingly and enticingly as the light of candles. Truth will always shine its light, even if it is obscured by the darkness of lies. It may perhaps achieve the price of a pearl, which is most beautiful in daylight, but it will never achieve the price of a diamond or ruby, which shine most beautifully in colorful light. A small dosage of lies always makes pleasure greater. Does anyone doubt that if empty opinions, deceptive hopes, false values, unrestrained fantasies, and the like were removed from human minds, the minds of many people would become dull and filled with sadness and discontent, and repulsive to themselves?
One of the fathers, in his great severity, called poetry vinum daemonum because it feeds the imagination, yet in it there is only a shadow of lies. But, as we said before, a lie that hurts is not the one that merely passes through the mind, but the one that sinks in and settles within it. However corrupt human judgments and inclinations may be, truth, which only judges itself, teaches us that the pursuit of truth is courtship or love for truth; the realization of truth is the presence of truth; and faith in truth is true enjoyment. It is in it – the greatest good of human nature. God’s first work, in the days when he created the world, was the light of the senses; the last was the light of reason, and his work from the day of rest until today is the enlightenment of the Spirit. First, he breathed light into the face of matter or chaos, then he breathed light into the face of man; and he still breathes and inspires with the light of the faces of his chosen ones. The poet who raised the reputation of a school that was otherwise worse than the others has excellently said: It is a pleasure to stand on the shore and watch the ships being thrown by the sea; it is a pleasure to stand at the window of a castle and watch battles and dangers down below, but no pleasure can be compared to standing on a high hill of truth (on an unconquered hill, where the air is always clean and calm) and looking at mistakes and wanderings, clouds and storms down in the valley, but in a way that fills us with compassion, not arrogance and pride. There is no doubt that paradise on earth is when a person’s mind moves in mercy, when it rests in providence. It twists and turns on the halves of truth.
Let us move from theological and philosophical truth to the truth related to civil matters; even those who do not adhere to it will admit that fair and open business practices are an honor to human nature, and that the admixture of lies is like an alloy in a gold and silver coin, which may make the metal more usable but devalues it. The snake, which does not walk but crawls with its belly on the ground, uses these twisted, distorted paths. There is no vice that shames a person as much as when it is discovered that they are a liar and hypocrite. And that is why Montaigne, when he wondered why the word “lie” is such a shame and such a hateful accusation, nicely said: If one considers it thoroughly, to say that someone lies is the same as saying that they are brave towards God and a coward towards humans. Because a lie faces God and flees from humans. The godlessness of lies and the violation of faith are best demonstrated by the fact that it will be the final bell before God’s judgment on humanity, as it is prophesied that when Christ comes, He will not find faith on the earth.
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