Understanding Truth

Arnold Keyserling

There are many meanings to the term "UNDERSTANDING." I understand a language. I understand the motivations of a murderer. I understand your intentions. I understand mathematical equations. However, I can also understand TRUTH, which is the verbal mirror of material and transcendental reality.

The English term "under-standing" means to be underneath a reality. Perhaps this explains the British love for under-statement. The French understanding of truth is "verite" which comes from "verifier," logical cartesian truth. The German word for truth, "wahrheit," stems from perceiving, "wahrnehmen." The Greek word "aletheia," is synonomous with immortality, and means that which will not be forgotten. The ordinary mortal after death has to cross the river of forgetting. Only the hero could carry his knowledge to heaven.

The presocratic philosopher's term for understanding was "episteme" - subjective truth, in contrast to opinion - doxa. "Episteme" was the "knowledge behind the knowledge." Today in academic philosophy "epistemology" is the theory of cognition. But originally in Greek the term "episteme" included all knowledge received through "understanding" in a pre-conscious sphere, which can be recalled at will. Socrates, who knew that he knew nothing, was the wisest of the Greeks. This saying of the Oracle of Delphi became the basis of the European Wisdom traditions. Knowing nothing does not mean to be aware of what one does not know. It means to penetrate to a state of total openness, creativity.

The Nothingness behind the original meaning of "episteme" is the same idea as the Buddhistic elimination prajna. It is the "Thundering Silence" of Bodhidarma. Whoever is stuck between theory and fact has not attained his immortal being. Thus the scientific method cannot lead to truth. It leads to certainty and strategies to master human survival. There is no contradiction between scientific knowledge and Wisdom. Science clarifies the relation between the human subject and reality, whereas Wisdom attains the subject and liberates the being to continuous bliss.

The German word for understanding, "verstehen," means placing all knowledge in a wheel around the center, corresponding to heaven in relation to the polar star. Understanding of truth shows the way to make sense, whereas understanding of problems amplifies personal and collective scientific knowledge. Likewise in Arabic "understanding" is symbolized by the pillar uniting the Earth and the polar star.

"Scientific truth" is based on research formulating ever improving theories. "Wisdom truth" is the same in all cultures. It is accessible through Awareness and is attained by cutting through the curtain which hides it from average consciousness, as is described so vividly by Charles Tart in his book "Waking Up."