THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH. . .

I have been reflecting upon the following words from the Gospel of St. John: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of Truth…

For me, the essence of ‘the Spirit of Truth’ points to a comprehensive, inclusive approach to discerning ‘truth.’ It seems to me that this ‘Spirit of Truth’ is difficult for us modern folks to receive. We still live in a world inhabited by ‘either-or’ thinking – a thing is true or false. I am now recalling all of the ‘true-false’ tests I took when I was in school; at times I seem to approach life as a series of ‘truth-false’ questions.

How many folks today prefer the simplistic and too often adversarial approach to truth; it is easier to define truth by proving the other has lied. Remember the U.S. Senator who during our President’s ‘2010 State of the Union Address’ shouted out: ‘YOU LIE!’? We lost something at that point in time: We lost the opportunity to know the truth about the Senator’s way of thinking and his life experience that led him to disagree with the President.

Sadly, I too often find it easier to claim my own experience as ‘the Truth’ as this enables me to not have to listen to the other’s perspective. Like so many other Christians I forget that ‘The Spirit of Truth’ calls me/us to seek, to strive, to understand the multiple points of views of the others. Jesus told me that this is ‘the way’ and yet I find myself resisting not only the advocacy of ‘The Spirit of Truth’ I find myself resisting because the ‘truth-discerning’ process tends to be messy and complex.

As an espoused follower of Jesus the Christ, I struggle with His call to ‘love my enemy’ – talk about a radical demand of ‘The Spirit of Truth.’ ‘The Spirit of Truth’ tells me that I won’t discern the truth unless – until – I am willing to see the issue from my enemy’s viewpoint. In other words, I am challenged by ‘The Spirit of Truth’ to strive to view the world from God’s perspective not mine. As I recall, God created a world where many different people and nations have their own ways and lives. As I recall, God loves all of us. God loves ‘my people’ and God loves my enemies. Now what do I do? Now how do I respond? Now what do I think? Now how do I respond?

God’s ‘Spirit of Truth’ does not see the world as ‘either-or’ – God’s ‘Spirit of Truth’ sees the world as ‘both-and’. Globalism and localism are not mutually exclusive. Immigrants (whether legal or not) and citizens do not have to be fearful of each other. Pro-life and Pro-choice folks are not necessarily adversaries. Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote: Differences are not intended to separate, to alienate. We are different precisely in order to realize our need for one another.

We humans are, by nature, a communal species. It seems to me that in order for the community to discern the truth it needs to take into account the diversity of perspectives even when they seem to be opposite or contrary to each other. ‘The Truth’ emerges out of an exploration and understanding of the diverse points of view which are rooted in the differences (attitudinal and experiential) of the members of the community. ‘The Spirit of Truth’ also challenges the community to raise up the experiences and perspectives that might well be ignored by the dominant communal view. In order for the dominant view to do this it must embrace and trust ‘The Spirit of Truth.’ The Chinese Sage reminded us that ‘When the student is ready the teacher will appear’ and so it is with ‘The Spirit of Truth’ – when the community is ready ‘The Spirit of Truth’ will appear.