Our Truth Galaxies

“What is truth?” Pilate famously asked over two thousand years ago. You may have asked it as well if you ever questioned your beliefs, been caught up in a political argument, struggled in a relationship, or found life meaningless.

Rather than attempt to answer that question, let’s just talk about truth: my truth and your truth, marital truth and political truth, scientific and religious truth. Years before Pilot questioned Jesus, he would have discussed such issues with his friends, but he couldn’t have appreciated his role in birthing the personal truth galaxy of Jesus, the man he questioned, nor could he have imagined how crucifying his body would be judged centuries later. Back then, there was only the earth and the heavens filled with the sun’s rays during the day and the phases of the moon, the roving planets, and the twinkling stars at night.

Those “twinkling stars” are now known to be suns and galaxies like our sun and our Milky Way all positioned at unfathomable distances in outer space. We are learning the nature of our “stars” through their radiations detected on super-sensitive telescopes. That knowledge, like all knowledge, exists in a mental space filled with patterns of understandings just as dramatic and complex as our starry galaxies and personally much more consequential. These patterns are our truth galaxies. We clearly recognize and name them when we speak of scientific and religious truth, political and marital truth, personal truth and your truth. Here is a quick glance of nature of the expressions that first formed your personal truth galaxy.

The Grand Canyon of Truth is my way of bringing the encompassing character of our truth galaxies down to earth. Much like the formations of the Grand Canyon carved by the Colorado River, they can be comprehensively, coherently, and rewardingly explored.

When viewing the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, visitors get a sense of its scale and diversity by flying over it. Pamphlets explaining particular features are available at designated vantage points. The forces actually shaping the canyon are best appreciated by rafting down the river with a guide familiar with its pools and rapids.

Here are six analogous excursions for exploring the Grand Canyon of Truth (GCT). The first is a flight over the GCT illustrating some basic types of truth encounters. The next four excursions are vantage points from which marital, political, institutional, and revelatory truth is meaningfully viewed and contemplated. In the last excursion you raft down the River of Truth as you explore and discuss what its spirit has to say about your vital concerns for life, disclosure, worthiness, relationships, brokenness, and death. Each excursion provides an integral view of a valued truth in your world.