The-objective-truth

Comprehending "the-objective-truth":

In the play, “Sincere Liberty,” read on September 20, 2017, it is essential to the audience to comprehend “the-objective-truth,” so listen up, as I explain it.

The-objective-truth, of which most is undiscovered and some is understood, wholly exists yet evolves according to the laws of physics. "Physic" means the object of study rather than the study process and includes actual reality as well as the mirages humans construct by imagination, reason, revelation, and other arbitrary approaches to the unknown. Action taken on mirages beg ruin from consequential physics, such as depletion of life wandering in the desert for an imagined oasis. Therefore, humankind works to discover physics and its optimal use. For example, most people don’t know if there is extraterrestrial life and would not attempt speculative communication skills with extraterrestrials.

The-objective-truth comes upon rational thought about evidence of discovery and repetition of the evidence. In other words, ineluctable evidence. The process works equally in physics and in psychology.

Willing people mutually discover public integrity using the-objective-truth rather than submit to mystery, dominant opinion, or political power. Humankind progresses not by force or coercion but by personal experience, by observation, and by practicing fidelity. Unwilling people are dissidents. Today, "identity politics," an invitation to collaborate, has emerged from "political correctness," an often erroneous boast. "In God we trust" reflects an identity politics that may be reformed to "In whatever-God-is we trust."

What is vs what may be

The-objective-truth expresses what is --- the object of discovery, rather than what may be --- the subject of imagination. Most of the-objective-truth is undiscovered but some is both understood and beneficially used. For example, in a civic culture, if the CDC reports evidence that smoking reduces life-span and secondary smoke kills innocent people, willing citizens stop smoking. But some dissidents do not stop.

The-objective-truth is the actual reality to which humankind ineluctably answers. In other words, reality can neither be ignored nor avoided. When the-objective-truth is undiscovered, voluntary public integrity requires responses like, “I do not know,” or “I think so and don’t have to know in order to hold my hopes for a good future.” In public integrity, both the religious believer and the non-believer collaborate, communicate, and connect for statutory justice. The advocate of his or her objective truth or subjective truth nevertheless appreciates the-objective-truth.

Collaboration

In a civic culture, most people iteratively collaborate to discover the-objective-truth. Thereby, people may practice mutual, comprehensive safety and security for themselves, for their children and grandchildren, and for the beyond --- for posterity. People who stonewall this process isolate themselves from connections for mutual, comprehensive safety and security.

By pursuing the-objective-truth the culture corrects errors and obsolete opinion: tradition. An objective culture records discovered-objective-truth so that future generations may benefit from past discovery and efficiently correct inevitable errors upon new understanding or future discovery. Thereby, successive generations may live at the edge of moral discovery---integrity. This journal of error-correction is maintained by a free and responsible press. Presently, there is no responsible journal beyond perhaps Wikipedia with its imperfect system.

Cultivating fidelity

Among first principles of a civic culture is personal, comprehensive fidelity. Both respectively and collectively, the person grows fidelity to these entities: to the-objective-truth, to self, to family, to the people, to the nation, and to the world. I, singly, neither know nor can discover the-objective-truth yet can cultivate fidelity until my body, mind, and person stop functioning.

Humankind continually discovers the-objective-truth. The newborn may become informed, acquire understanding, and make personal choices at the leading edge of discovery.

Civilization implies force/coercion

Regarding civic morality, civil opinion may have two aspects:  social conventions and statutory law. Social convention is based on temporal civilization more than the-objective-truth. Statutory law can be unjust, especially if it is derived by coercion/force, arrogance, or dominant opinion. A civic culture collaborates to amend statutory law so as to develop statutory justice. Some societies think crime pays. Thus, civility can be erroneous.

Many civilizations do not admit that things go better with conformity to the-objective-truth. Whereas humankind cannot rebuke the-objective-truth without either missing opportunity or inviting woe, most civilizations are based on dominant opinion, often that people behave with integrity only under force or coercion---a contradiction. Thus, such civilizations are dissident to the-objective-truth.

Freedom from oppression

With freedom from a dominant opinion about the-objective-truth, individuals may acquire the liberty to pursue personal preferences. Personal, comprehensive fidelity is made possible.

Humankind’s collective quest for the liberty to live in peace is stifled by failure to promote freedom from arbitrary dominant opinion. In other words, the liberty to exercise humankind’s psychological power. To reach human maturity requires freedom from psychological tyranny. Societies are reluctant to admit that individuals may achieve comprehensive fidelity.

A common good

Personal independence is suppressed by the world’s misdirected quest for a socio-political regime that fosters freedom according to "the common good.” Unfortunately, much of the thought is dominated by theism, a coercive mystery, rather than the-objective-truth, a discoverable certainty.

“Self-government” seems discipline-alienating concept that erroneously seeks higher power. Humans are, both daily and ultimately, governed by the-objective-truth, the actually real higher power. In other words, humans either discover and conform-to the-objective-truth or risk woe. Humans may collaborate for comprehensive safety and security but cannot arbitrarily self-govern. However, the individual may discipline himself or herself according to the-objective-truth.

These statements address civic integrity, leaving private concerns and hopes for personal pursuit. In other words, in a civic culture, no one is coerced to negotiate personal, heartfelt concerns. For example, no one can impose concern for a “soul” on an unbeliever. Likewise, believers cannot be coerced into unbelief. Thus, democracy, or rule of the majority, is not a civic culture. This is especially so when the majority is a collective of people who claim allegiance to something they privately define in distinct ways. For example, no two people behave according to an identical definition of God.

Coaching children

A culture with voluntary public integrity, call it civic integrity, empowers the newborn with three principles: 1) ignoring the-objective-truth invites woe, 2) collaboration for mutual, comprehensive safety and security is essential to each person, and 3) the human being may, through comprehensive fidelity, conform to the-objective-truth without compromising private hopes. These statements express an achievable culture, whereas "equal justice under law," is interpreted controversially and is thus intractable.

The newborn child is a person and he or she is indisputably unable to independently transition to psychologically mature adult. The-objective-truth is that he or she may remain in a state of subjugation to the caregivers. However, the willing child may, through experience and observations, develop human authenticity. Public connections are essential to personal development of civic integrity. Fortunate is the adolescent who has been encouraged and coached so as to accept human individual power, energy, and authority (HIPEA) to develop integrity---to avoid infidelity to the-objective-truth. However, some adults use HIPEA for crime, because they erroneously think crime pays.

The civic culture

Because it springs from the-objective-truth, the civic culture seeks neither dominant opinion nor democracy nor public mystery. Each willing person is in charge of personal preferences that do not conflict the-objective-truth. Yet each person may privately, responsibly test the universal unknowns. For example, be the first person to fly on aerodynamic or jet-propulsion principles. The freedom made possible by a culture that conforms to the-objective-truth facilitates the personal liberty to pursue private interests, including private mysteries. 

Thus, the traditional “common good” becomes conformity to the-objective-truth rather than conflict over mystery. Willing people accept public interference --- force and coercion --- only on the indisputable facts of actual reality. For example, no one accepts someone’s assertion that they are powerful enough to run red traffic lights. No one specifies their personal God for evaluation by the public---only the mysterious whatever-God-is occurs in public debate.

A civic culture may seem impossible because it has never been attempted. But it has never been expressed as voluntary public integrity by willing people using the-objective-truth. A culture that supports individual happiness with civic integrity has never been attempted, as far as I know.

There will always be dissidents, some of whom cause harm. Statutory law may conform to the-objective-truth rather than dominant opinion or mystery. Yet willing people must evaluate whether harmful behavior results from a physical or psychological disability, or arrogance, or criminal activity. Justice may be achieved with iterative collaboration to discover the-objective-truth.

With the process based on the-objective-truth, law enforcement by either arbitrary opinion or mystery is lessened.

Mystery and Manners

Objects, such as lies, are often, erroneously asserted as the-objective-truth or facts. For example, some people present their theism as the-objective-truth. Yet, no one accepts that their religion must yield to another. Mysteries, such as religious beliefs that have not been disproven, should not be disparaged. However, mysteries of hope have no standing in collaboration for civic justice.

Among willing people, liars stand out as dissidents. In a culture that never lies, the liar cannot communicate. The freedom to lie empowers personal isolation.

 “Faith in reason” seems unwise. Science is a process for study and the student may reason based on false perceptions --- like a mirage.

The object of study is discovery, and the product is the-objective-truth, which does not respond to reason. However, rational thought is essential to the acceptance that repeatable evidence represents a discovery rather than a subject of imagination. I object to “having faith” in this context and prefer “trust in and commit to” the-objective-truth, the product of evidentiary discovery. This is necessary, because religion has appropriated the word "faith."

Proposal

We propose a new standard for public integrity: collaboration to discover the-objective-truth more than competition for dominant-opinion. How could this concept have improved the history of the USA? How could it be used to improve future living in Baton Rouge?

Copyright©2017 by Phillip R. Beaver. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for the publication of all or portions of this paper as long as this complete copyright notice is included. Revised 8/13/2019.