After reading a fair amount of classic texts from the Norton Anthology in my high school American Studies class, I began to see a theme in the literature: the quest for an ultimate Truth. My teachers called this “the capital-T Truth” to assert its importance. It seemed to me that each author used their works in some capacity for the exploration of what constitutes the Truth, and each guess was different from the last. For example, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature uses the metaphor of a transparent eyeball to suggest that we should absorb every aspect of nature to have a full understanding of and appreciation for it, rather than simply viewing it. This suggests that the ultimate Truth is about a way of living and viewing the world. David Foster Wallace’s claim that “capital-T Truth is about life BEFORE death” sums up the concept nicely; the questions provoked by this single Truth generally do not concern the vast uncertainty of our destination after death, but our nature and purpose on Earth. In my opinion, truths are discovered rather than formulated. I often discover what I feel is true through simple written reflection, which is how I created a personal theory of how to grasp the ultimate Truth using the concept of infinite infinities as a metaphor.
I am going to call the traditional concept of infinity the “broader infinity.” In the broader infinity, each whole number contains its own decimal infinity. For example, between 0 and 1, there exists 0.8, 0.9, 0.99, 0.999, 0.9999. I could keep adding nines forever. Let’s call this a “small infinity,” even though every infinity is technically the same size. The same small infinity exists between 1 and 2, and 3 and 4, and so on. Infinite infinities. Now, imagine that the broader infinity represents the Truth, and each perspective, each unique set of beliefs and way of thinking, is represented by a different small infinity, a “lowercase-t truth.” Perhaps mine is number 37, and perhaps yours is number 3 million. The space (infinity) is the same, but the numbers look different, because we each have unique perspectives.
My theory is that if you could combine every perspective in the observable and unobservable universe and look through it as a single kaleidoscope containing every viewpoint, you would see the Capital-T Truth. Therefore, when you and I combine perspectives, we come one step closer to understanding this Truth. However, there are only 7.8 billion human perspectives on this planet, and that number is inconsequential on an infinite scale. So, here’s what I think: we will never fully grasp the Truth. It’s not in our nature, and personally, I do not believe it’s our purpose. While this aspect presents a caveat, there are still implications of this theory that we can benefit from.
What are those implications, then? First, I believe that we can and should define our own lowercase-t truths, our small infinities. Understanding what you personally believe and how you think and consciously giving that perspective flexibility to change is invaluable. Once we have defined our own truths, we can combine them with others’ to get as good an infinitely small glimpse into the capital-T Truth as possible. To me, developing as deep an understanding, and therefore appreciation of existence as possible seems an excellent way to spend life before death. If you disagree, then that’s a contribution to my perspective, and I welcome it. Giving people the chance to explain why they believe what they do shows understanding, even if you don’t agree with their views. Ultimately, collaborating in this way may ensure a more empathetic world for future generations.