Prompt: One individual’s truth may not be other’s reality.
Have you wondered how someone else may see your truth as false? Perhaps you have, and maybe experienced this differing reality in some way or another. In terms of what we perceive as true, we all have a unique reality due to our personal values, the society in which we live and the people who live around us. Thus, we never know if our own reality is reality in its true, undistorted form.
Our personal views and values affect our perception of reality. As everyone has slightly different personal values, everyone will have differing truths. Such differences can be seen in the numerous debates where what one individual perceives clashes with what others perceives. Such has occurred in a Q and A episode just after the results of the 2016 election, where the views of Pauline Hanson clashed with those of Sam Datsyari. Ms Hanson, whose personal viewpoint can be described as nationalist is seen to be against allowing Islamic people into Australia as she perceives them an unfavourable truth about such a religion. Such a viewpoint sees Islamic people are violent and undemocratic, causing stifle amongst the Muslims in the audience. Mr Datsyari, on the other hand, does not perceive the same reality as Pauline Hanson doe. Being from a Muslim background himself, Datsyari challenged Hanson, asking if she would “allow a five year old Sam Datsyari to enter Australia,” which shows a different personal viewpoint. The clash between Pauline Hanson and Sam Datsyari demonstrates that individual realities differ. Thus, an individual’s truth may not be another’s reality due to differing personal views.
Since we may have grown up in different societies and culture, we may have differing perceptions. The society in which we live affects our realities, sometimes in powerful ways. In terms of an individual’s view upon reality, a society that has traumatised them may cause their individual truths to run opposite to that of the society. During the industrial revolution where large amounts of income inequality existed, Karl Marx’s thinking rebelled against such a system. Instead of supporting the emerging system called capitalism, Marx believed that communism would be the ideal system. In his truth, capitalism was an oppressive and communism represented hope for the poorer masses. This truth however, contrasts to that of the reality of somebody else: Russian-American author and philosopher Ayn Rand. In contrast to Marx’s truth, Rand’s truth is that capitalism is the ideal system, since she grew up in a failed communist system. As a result, her individual truth is that communism does not work as a social system, thereby her thinking went the opposite direction to that of the society in which she lived, just like Marx’s thinking. The society we live in have a strong effect upon individual’s truths. As we may live in different societies, our individual’s truths are different, thereby our individual’s truth may not be other’s reality.
Our realities also differ due to growing up with different people throughout the duration of our lives. These are people immediately surrounding us, such as our family members. American presidential candidate and controversial businessman Donald Trump has a reality strongly influenced by his father in his decision to make a career in real estate. During the summers, he would work for his fathers’ company at the construction site and even joined his family business, the Trump organisation. As a result, his was able to be get a head start in his life, eventually becoming a wealthy man with a net worth of 4.5 billion US dollars. Yet, Donald Trump’s truth is not the reality of the Loman family, where the children are influenced in a negative way. Whilst Willy wanted his sons to be great salesmen, his family’s endless debts to pay off and struggle to keep up shows that he is not the great salesman he claims to be. Hence, Willy’s truth is not the reality of Biff, who calls Willy a fake of phoney. Our family members have a profound effect upon our realities. Since we live with a different family, we all have a different reality. Hence, one individual’s truth may not be other’s realities.
As we all have different truths of our own, we can never really know if our reality is the factual world in its most undistorted form. Oftentimes, we only know a part of the truth, with the tendency to assume that the part we know is the while truth, as told in the Indian story of the five blind men and the elephant. In this story, the Elephant can be likened to the undistorted version of the truth, and the five blind men represents our different perception of reality. The first man, who touched the massive, leathery side of the elephant claimed that the elephant is a wall. On the contrary, the second man, who grabbed the trunk has a different truth, where is it like spear in his reality. Other men also touched different parts of the elephant including a rope, trunk or a fan. As different parts of the whole truth is experienced by one individual, the individual men are shown to have differing realities. Hence, this story demonstrates that there is no single version of the truth towards an individual was each and every one touches a different part of the elephant. Since we all have differing realities, thereby our individual truths may not be others reality. Accordingly, our own individual’s truths may not be the factual objective truth in its entire form and its true version.
Due to differing personal views and values, the society in which we live and the people around us, we all have a unique reality we consider our own truth. So we may need to consider things form another’s perspectives as we never know if our own truth is the undistorted truth.
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