The Genius of Obi-Wan Kenobi

 DISCLAIMER: Everything I have to say in this discussion is entirely my own opinion. Everyone's conception of truth of different, that's the whole point I'm trying to make. 

"What I told you was true...from a certain point of view." This line uttered by Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker is maddening...and genius. Luke is about to leave for Endor to confront Darth Vader after having just confirmed with Master Yoda that the evil man is in fact his own father when Obi-Wan delivers this incredibly frustrating accedence. One of Luke's main reasons for becoming a Jedi was to gain the necessary skills to slay the man who supposedly murdered Anakin Skywalker, who he believed was his father. Lo and behold, Vader and Anakin are one and the same, a singular man twisted by evil...but, not entirely, I'd argue. When Obi-Wan claims he is right from a "certain point of view," he's not wrong. Everything that made Anakin who he was---all of his character traits that defined him---were summarily obliterated upon his transition to Vader. Vader is so far removed from Anakin that, in a sense, he is an entirely different being. 

The point I'm trying to make here is that truth is two things: relative and subjective. For as long as I can remember, I have established a stark difference between truth and fact. Fact is what actually is; truth is how you conceptualize whatever the is is. 

For example, even things like time and money are more truth than fact, relative than absolute, subjective than objective. The sun rising is an objective fact; that it is 7am in the morning is a relative truth. The world does not run on one large timezone. Time is a construct humans invented to give order to the natural world. What we consider seconds, minutes, hours, and days are just labels to conceptualize the fact that the sun rises and sets. Einstein said it first, though, so I'll defer to him. 

To put it simply, one man's truth is another man's falsehood, and it's amazing how clear this difference can be sometimes. Politics, religion, statistical analysis, food, art...basically everything. I firmly believe there is no one truth about the world. There is no absolute being or order that controls the universe. There is no feasible way to claim you are "absolutely right" about something. Even if you say, "genocide is bad," there is probably someone somewhere who disagrees; therefore, you are not "absolutely right" because claiming absolutism means claiming all. Thus, even if you have just one detractor, you can't claim all. Consequently, your fact becomes a relative opinion. This is true for pretty much any opinion anyone who has ever lived has ever had. 

As a Christian, I am well aware that my faith and my conception of a creator being is entirely relative. I am not in the camp that believe that it's "my way or the highway." I think religions that advocate for that kind of thinking are shortsighted and doing irreparable damage to their congregations. I've actually had many debates with my Catholic roommates about this very topic before. I love them dearly and always will, but they hold absolutist viewpoints about God and the nature of free will that I simply cannot get on board with. And, in total fairness, I myself hold viewpoints I think are absolutely true that of course are, in reality, just my opinion. 

I call this interesting bit of human nature "arrogance." Arrogance is typically defined as hubristic self-importance, but I like to think of this kind of arrogance as similar to close-mindedness. Essentially, you believe you are so right that you cannot fathom the mere possibility of being wrong. To you, your truth is the fact, and any conception otherwise simply has to be wrong because your truth is the fact. One of these same friends brought up another argument against this philosophy of mine the other day. He pointed to a purple chair and said, "you talk about truth and fact. Is it not a fact that this chair is purple?" I told him that while yes, the majority of people in the world would look at that chair and say it's purple, we have people who are blind and colorblind. He countered with since these people wouldn't be able to see the true nature of the chair in the first place, they should be excluded. I accepted this, but then argued that even color is a construct. We consider the color purple to be the color purple because everyone agrees that it's the color purple. There is no singular, absolute way to actualize the color being purple other than everyone agreeing on it. This is the same functionality that currency has. $20 is worth that much because we've assigned an arbitrary value to it, the same way we attribute arbitrary conceptions of color to natural pigments of materials. 

I'm a semantics guy. The philosophy of meaning and how humans conceptualize meaning is so interesting to me. I'm also a linguistics guy. Since the dawn of human existence, language has been the primary tool of communication between members of our species. I think you can marry the two to craft an argument against mistaking truth for fact. 

The word "truth" itself has different meanings depending on one's language. 

• In English, truth is tied to factual accuracy and correspondence with reality. Truth means a statement matches the world. 

• In German, truth or "wahrheit," carries a sense of authenticity and faithfulness as much as it does factual accuracy. Truth means a statement is sincere; it doesn't necessarily have to match the world.

• In Greek, truth or "aletheia," means unconcealment. Truth means a a statement has manifested itself, has become revealed to us; whether or not the manifestation is factual is irrelevant.

• In Arabic, truth or "haqq," can also mean right, just, or real. Truth means a statement is morally or divinely grounded, rather than factually accurate.

• Russia takes it a step further, having two separate words for truth: "pravda" and "istina." Pravda implies truth means just and morally right. Istina implies truth as external, objective reality. The Russian language actually takes the step to disassociate subjectivity from objectivity. 

So you see, truth is not a universal coin. Even amongst ourselves, in our own culture with our own close friends and family, truth is not minted with homogenous understanding. I believe one of the most beautiful things about being human is that we all think about the world differently, and with so much violence and hatred predicated on taking truth as fact, it's sad to me that we can't respect each other in spite of this. If people could see truth as more of an opinion, as simply their own personal ideas about the world, the world could become a much kinder place. 

The genius of Obi-Wan Kenobi lies in a simple admission: truth is all about perspective, and as frustrating as that sounds, that at least is a fact...from a certain point of view.