Gita 16.09 All truth-claims are power-claims – This is also a truth-claim and a power-claim

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
so here Krishna is speaking and he is speaking about 16.9 so one of the defining dogmas of postmodern thought is that all truth claims are essentially power claims that means that they hold that anybody whose case they claim to know the truth they are simply claiming that so that they can have power over others now there is definitely it has happened that truth claims have been used to get power over others but the simple fact is that that all truth claims are power claims is also a truth claim so and this truth claim also gives power it gives power it is also a covert power claim because then it enthrones postmodern thought postmodern ideology as the supreme ideology because all other ideologies are relative all other ideologies are false in the sense that they are simply concealed or not so concealed power claims you know what about the truth claim of postmodern people postmodern thinkers their truth claim is that all truth claims are power claims and therefore we should not accept any such truth claims but then by this truth claim by accepting this truth claim we give postmodern thought the power to deconstruct all other thoughts all other thought systems and any attempt to talk about objective truth requires some standpoint of objective some objective standpoint from which to talk so the rejection of objectivity rests on the assumption of objectivity that means that the rejection of objectivity there is no objective truth everything is just subjective perception but how can we know that everything is just subjective perception after all have we seen everything to know for it know that for ourselves not really no we have just arrived at that conception with our own with our own extrapolation of our finite experiences so based on our subjective perception of the subjectivity of the reality that we have observed we are making objective statement of the absence of any objectivity to reality ok what this means is that to say that all truth is objective this is a truth claim and a truth claim requires to have some basis so what basis can it have other than the point that ultimately but all truth claims are subjective ok I am perceiving from subjective perspective you are perceiving from subjective perspective but it is our perception of the object that is subjective but that the object exists is that object to reality hallucination refers to perception even in the absence of a stimulus absence of object illusion refers to wrong perception of an object there is just object so we have the stimulus which is real but the way we perceive it is wrong like perceiving a rope to be a snake now if we consider the point that objectivity of truth is something which is just it just needs to be accepted because without objective truth there will not be subjective perception which it is like there are six blind men and the elephant and each of them are perceiving it differently but there is an elephant there is objective reality of the elephant and there is subjective perception of the elephant by the six blind men so now it is true that none of the blind men get a complete picture of the elephant now that does not mean that all people everywhere have to be blind and no one can see the elephant fully at least externals of the elephant they can be seen fully by a person who has eyes so if the six blind men realize oh you know we are all our perceptions are relative that’s true but from that if they extrapolate that everyone’s perception is relative then they are assuming that all people are blind like them the problem with that assumption is undeniable that how do we know how do they know for sure have they seen all people by which they have found out that all people are blind no so therefore actually speaking the key truth of the postmodern hypothesis that all truths are power claims all truth claims are power claims that when we deconstruct that you know when we subject their deconstructionism to deconstruction then we discover that it has clay feet that it has no strong foundations and it self collapses so the rejection of all reality all objectivity the rejection of all possibility of knowledge all this ends up making making life making life existentially knowledgeless and meaningless so we as finite beings shouldn’t be over confident and certainly we shouldn’t be arrogant about the truth that we know or that we think we know we all need humility in perceiving whatever truths we are presently looking at at the same time we also need to acknowledge that we cannot reject the possibility of truth truth itself because truth itself is an undeniable reality there is something that exists and there is something that corresponds there is something out there that corresponds partially with our vision of it this isn’t itself reject the possibility that our vision of it is is real it may not be complete and that is fine so when someone when someone claims that they have the complete truth then it could be a a power claim which needs to be challenged and countered but when one claims some knowledge of the truth and we have we have been given our God given intelligence by which we can perceive the perceive whether that particular claim to truth we could at a simple functional level way is truth is that which corresponds with reality now that is the exhaustive correspondence with reality whether the truth has some aspects which correspond with some aspects of reality and there are other aspects of reality which are open to other forms of seeing that all that is something which can be later discussed but the idea that all truth claims are claims to truth that is itself a problem so by being open to receiving the truth from higher sources especially sources that exhibit a selfless love God is posited as such a supremely selfless being and many saints have exhibited remarkable levels of selflessness in sharing their teachings with others by connecting with these saintly examples we can actually move forward in our own understanding of the truth those who have no interest in worldly power those who have exhibited through their character a sublime level of selflessness when we receive the truth from them it is often a way for us not for them to claim power over us but for us to regain the power that we need for functioning fruitfully in this world somebody is showing us telling us this is the way to Toronto and I have to go to Montreal this is the way to Montreal that could be a power claim if they want to take us somewhere where they will abduct us or plunder us or whatever but it could be simply assistance also simply pointing the way for us so by traversing the way by using our intelligence to evaluate their guidance we can actually come to know whether it is right or wrong and we can move onwards without having some kind of knowledge knowledge of truth we will not be able to do anything without having the faith that the words that come out of our mind are proper expressions of the thought that we hold words that come out of our mouth correspond at least to some extent with the thoughts that are there in our mind we cannot function so therefore we need to move on beyond simply deconstructing the truth to deciphering the truth from reliable sources who have exhibited a selflessness that it is not it is different from the people power hungry people who make truth claims to mask their power claims