When I was a senior in high school, our English class was given an assignment to write a one-page paper on the topic “What is truth?” The rest of the students finished within a few minutes. I was floored at the question—and had no idea where to start. Afterward I asked several of my classmates what they’d written, and each one said that everybody has their own truth—my truth, your truth, their truth, her truth, etc. I knew I couldn’t write that. If that were so, then there would be no truth—only different perspectives.
A couple of days later I went to my English teacher in frustration and asked to know how he could possibly expect us to write an answer to this question. He seemed a little surprised by my quandary, but not disappointed. He said it wasn’t so important that I could answer the question at the moment—but very important that I ask it.
I didn’t know about Christian Science at the time, but Mary Baker Eddy—who discovered it—includes a paragraph in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures with the marginal heading “The question of the ages.” The paragraph begins: “The question, ‘What is Truth,’ convulses the world. Many are ready to meet this inquiry with the assurance which comes of understanding; but more are blinded by their old illusions, and try to ‘give it pause.’ ‘If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch’ ” (p. 223). This question was indeed convulsing my world. Once I asked it, I couldn’t let it go.
