Truth and the Way

The Noble Truths
The great German philosopher Hegel, who was perhaps the greatest
of them all, once said that truth was a great word, but the actual
thing, however small and insignificant, was greater still. It is the
modern version of the refutation of the ontological argument, which
was tried earlier by S. Anselm, and later by Descartes and Leibnitz,
when they attempted to prove “a priori” the existence of truth,
the highest, God. However noble a thought, however grand an idea,
however lofty an idea], it always remains a concept, that is, a conception
in the human mind, born of a sensuous perception, a reaction
to a sensuous need. And as a concept it is always and infinitely less
than actuality, just because it has no actual existence apart from
human thought. And thus, the highest is for ever unattainable as
the horizon; the truth will be for ever unknown because it is not objective;
the absolute can never be comprehended because realisation
is relative.
Truth is not something which can stand on its own, like a statue.
It is rather a state or a statement, that is, a condition of being, a
mode of existence. But that does not mean that every statement is
the truth. A statement may be untrue; it may be meaningless. As
a matter of fact, most statements are meaningless, because we do
not know what we are talking about. A statement such as “truth
is the highest” is completely meaningless, even though it sounds
impressive, for we know neither the truth, nor the highest.
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