Julian's+Truth+Web

All styrofoam balls have 3 things in common: //
 * Julian HK:** //A truth web in which everyone is only aware of their own "opinion" or "beliefs" represented by a styrofoam ball and everyone can only see their own ball.

However, not everyones string is connected to the shoe box. About half of them are and half of them are not.
 * Each ball represents the opinions or beliefs of its respective person.
 * The red twisties on each ball represent the strength of belief or conviction.
 * The string attached to the twisties supposedly connects the opinions to the universal truth, which is represented by a shoebox in the center of the room.

So, with this in mind, I set forth 3 scenarios. __1st scenario__ Watching an event in a moment in time (similar to Rob's light on a train scenario)

Here the ball represents all your feelings, previous knowledge, system of reason, and perceptions. Since everyones ball is different, everyone perceived this even differently. Although Rob and Bill might have been standing next to each other watching this, they might have different feelings, or they might have been taught differently, or they might have seen something more closely. This leads to a different perception of the event and that is why each and every ball is different. As shown by the red twisties, everyone also believes what they saw but not with the same conviction. But the strength of conviction had no bearing on whether or not the string was connected to the shoebox meaning it doesn't matter if you believe with utmost faith that you are right because that has no bearing on whether or not you actually are right.

__2nd scenario__ Encompassing your whole life

Now the ball represents your philosophy on life: what is the meaning of life? Is there a God? What happens after you die? Again everyones ball is different. Although 4 people might be Christians, they most certainly have differing ideas on God and what happens after death. In addition, they don't all believe in it as strongly. Here I would like to point out two different balls. Michelle had a ball that was pretty decorated and had a lot of red twisties. This meant she had very developed ideas about God and life and she believed very very strongly in this. No one would be able to convince her otherwise. However, her string was not connected to the shoebox. More on this later. DK on the other hand, had a ball that was completely plain except for a tiny red twisty. This meant he thought very little of the world around him, he did not come up with any ideas of the world. He also didn't believe in anything that strongly. And his ball was connected to the truth. This is not to say that DK was living his life the right way. This just shows that DK's very simple ideas were true. This doesn't mean he achieved some higher Nirvana and accessed some very powerful "truth", thus just means that the limited number of things DK thought happened to be true. Back to Michelle's ball. Let's say her ball stood for her system of life and all that decoration outlined how she lived her life. Now it turns out that her ball was not connected to the truth. Does this mean Michelle's whole life is a lie? Does her life not have meaning any more? The answer is no. Because although what Michelle believes is incorrect, there is still a universal truth, a set of laws, that apply to her (and everyone else).

__3rd Scenario__ The question of "personal truth" such as love, at a point in time

Everyone's ball represents each persons notion of love. Simple enough. Stephanie asked me that since love was very personal, shouldn't every ball be connected to the truth. In class I said yes, but I had some time to think about it and would like to propose something different. Since this is love at a moment in time, it is possible for someone to feel like they love somebody but then later admit that it wasn't really love they were feeling. Since there is a universal truth, all love must be somewhat comparable. Taking Plato's idea: there is a cookie cutter form for the ideal love and all forms of love are just like a gingerbread cookie, different, but still love.

One last point I would like to make is that the Universal Truth encompasses everything that ever happened, everything that will ever happen, every thought ever conceived, and every sound ever uttered. It is everything, so it is impossible to every know all the truth. In class we have talked about "getting closer to the truth" and how we always are getting close but we will never truly grasp it.

I would like to illustrate this idea with two examples. Example A: Imagine a number line from 0 to 1. 0 is no truth, and 1 is the Universal Truth. Each generation gets halfway closer to 1. So the first generation gets to 1/2. The second generation gets to 3/4. The third to 7/8 and so on.

Example B: Imagine a number line from 0 to 1. 0 is no truth, and 1 is the Universal Truth. Each generation learns double the generation before it. The first generation learns an infinitesimally small amount. The second generation learns 2x. The third 4x and so on.

The difference between the two is that after a n generations, generation n in example A has almost achieved the whole truth, whereas generation n in example B has not even scratched the surface. I personally believe in example B.