The Profoundest Truths Lend Themselves To Antipodal Interpretations

Alan: The quality of perceived truth depends on the quality of the perceiver's epistemology.

In brief: "How do we know what we think we know?"

Augustine's rubric is: "We know to the extent that we love." 

History -- and the best of religion -- confirm that love is central to survival (and exaltation) and that the Siamese twins of hatred and indifference are cumulatively destructive, regardless their seeming short-term advantage.

 

"Love Your Enemies. Do Good To Those Who Hate You," Luke 6: 27-42

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/02/love-your-enemies-do-good-to-those-who.html

"Martin Luther King Jr. On Hatred, Violence, Love and Jesus "The Way"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/11/martin-luther-king-jr-on-hatred.html

Yeshua Excoriates Fellow Pharisees: "The Woe Passages"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/08/yeshua-excoriates-fellow-pharisees-woe.html

"Terrorism And The Other Religions"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/04/terrorism-and-other-religions-juan-cole.html

"Bad Religion: A Compendium"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/04/bad-religion-compendium.html

Bill McKibben: "The Christian paradox: How a faithful nation gets Jesus wrong."

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/06/bill-mckibben-christian-paradox-how.html

"Faith, Hope, Charity And Divine Desperation"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/04/faith-hope-charity-and-divine.html

Augustine's observation is not the smarmy platitude it may seem. Rather, he establishes love as the core litmus-and-qualifier of Truth while disqualifying other perceived "truths" to the extent that they are unloving.

Augustine may be wrong.

But I find his postulate surpassingly attractive.

Although wisdom is a meta-level distillation of data, facts and information (seen through the lens of experience), it is indispensable that data, facts and information be as accurate and as broadly contextualized as possible. 

Ironically, "shards of truth" (taken in decontextualized isolation) are more degrading to the human spirit and psyche than frank lies which, at minimum, have the virtue of being easily tested.

"People Who Watch Only Fox News 

Know Less Than People Who Watch No News"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/07/watching-only-fox-news-makes-you-less.html

"The Death of Epistemology"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/09/are-polls-skewed-death-of-epistemology.html

How the death of epistemology validates rhetorical vapidity:

1. The Guardian: "John Oliver's Viral Video Is The Best Climate Change Debate You'll Ever See"
   
   1. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-guardian-john-olivers-viral-video.html

Bill Maher: The Zombie Life Cycle Of Republican Lies. They Never - Ever - Die

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/07/bill-maher-zombie-life-cycle-of.html

"The Reign of Morons Is Here," Charles P. Pierce, The Atlantic

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-reign-of-morons-is-here-atlantic.html

"Republicans For Revolution," A Study In Anarchic Apocalypticism

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/10/republicans-for-revolution-study-in.html

The Cornerstone Of American Idiocracy

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-cornerstone-of-american-idiocracy.html

"A Southerner Explains Tea Party Radicalism: The Civil War Is Not Over"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-southerner-explains-tea-party.html

"Bank On It: The South Is Always Wrong"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/07/bank-on-it-south-is-always-wrong.html