Footprints...Our Mark in the World

In ancient times, most people walked without aid of shoes or sandals. The roads were not paved. Everyone left footprints. Trackers use footprints to follow and find both amimals and people in forests and deserts.

Most of us in the industrialized world no longer travel barefoot; nor do we walk on dirt roads. Yet, we each still have our own unique, one of a kind footprint.

No, I'm not exactly referring to "digital footprints." Actually, I mean our personal perspective. We share it everyday, everywhere we go. Others come to know us as we navigate our life through our personal perspective.

Our globalist mindset in the 21st Century seeks to bring everyone and everything into conformity with universal norms. While uniformity can and does simply and facilitate order; it cannot erase perspective.

There is truth. Then there is one's perception of truth. Perception itself is not truth. It is merely one's personal view and understanding of truth.

Those who promote relativism abhor the notion of absolute truth. They passionately declare absolute truth does not exist. But they confuse perspective with reality. Truth is reality. Perspective is one's view or vantage point of truth.

Consider for example a house. There is only the one house. Now, let's place eight people, around the outside of the house, and eight people inside the house. These people are equally divided as male and female.

There is only the one house. Yet, we are going to get 16 different descriptions of this one house. Where a person is around the house will influence what that person sees and believes about the house. One's gender will also alter what is described. We could add other varibles. Let's add generational perspectives with the same house. Adding 8 more from differing age designations will produce even more perspective; yet still only one house. Occupational varibles alter perspectives yet again.

Truth is the reality of life. Yet, it seems to be relative because each of us view truth uniquely.

Worldviews, are perspectives shared by a large group of people. These worldviews are created by various factors: geography, culture, language, ecnomics, etc.

Sociologists study the existential questions of life.

Where did I come from?
How did I get here?
Why am I here?
Where am I going?
What happens after death?

Now, there is only truth we pursue. We want the truth to these questions. Yet, discovering true answers to these existential questions is not a simple matter at all. To discover the truth to these questions requires us to wade through the murky waters of culture, politics, religion, worldviews, and personal perspective.

We each want to discover truth. No one really wants to be deceived. Deception happens, when we choose to embrace a substitute for truth. Usually, this happens because the truth makes us uncomfortable. We value our comfort zone. Ww mistakenly believe comfort equals safety.

While truth is not always safe, it is always truth. "Truth will set us free."

Each day we live, we are confronted with choices. Each one comes down to this simple matter. Shall I live by truth, or by my own perspective of truth?

What will you choose today?