Recently I have been traveling through Italy a little on holidays but also using the time to think about what's ahead in life, and where that might be. Thinking in this way as you move about another country I think helps you to pick out more of the little things which are different in the culture from those you are m more familiar with - not just the big things which you j have probably already heard about before you left.
I found myself asking this question - what qualities or things in life are really important to me? I thought of a number of different things but want to focus on just one, trust - and connected with that, truth.
These are two different qualities which I think we often attribute to being universal b but in actual fact, in some ways, are a lot more cultural than what we might have previously realized. This is not to compete however with universal and absolute truths but more with how these are understood, what they mean within a culture.
If you tell someone something and trust them not to share it with others, what does that mean? If somebody else asks about it are they to lie, either outright of by omission? Or is it okay to share it with family and close friends whom they share everything with normally? Or can they share about it with anyone providing they don't say who it is? Or maybe they can share vague details and say who it is? And then what about when they want to help, either by prayer, support of some kind, or more practically or directly - can they share then, and how much?
I can think of situations with different people from different cultures where each of these is acceptable and maintaining the trust given them, and also of situations with different people from different cultures where each of these would break the trust given to them. So in this way, trust and what that means is imbedded into our culture.
There are two main problems with trust - the first is the existence of secrets, and the second is human error. I think the problem with secrets and trust is an obvious one but with human error let me give two examples. The first, 'don't worry, I'll catch you - trust me' and they don't. What's gone wrong? They've misjudged their capabilities, or the distance/landing place, or between distracted for a moment, or weren't ready when the other person decided to drop... Human error. The second human error is in regards to truths and our understanding of conceptions of the world. For example, take into consideration the religions of the world - one might say this is truth while another says that it is truth and the previous is a lie - we must consider what is being said and decide which one is telling the trek other and which one is lying... Or are they both lying, but they can't both be telling the truth. Or consider previous scientific principles and discoveries which in further years have been proven to be false, a misunderstanding of the information at hand, or rather missing an important piece of information to complete the puzzle correctly.
If trust is implicitly problematic and not really ever truly particle considering the above problems and its grounding in culture, why is it so important to us? I would suggest that it's because of these very reasons that it is so important to us. Trust, rather than being imbedded in culture or always delivering disappointment is rather rooted in the fundamental human relationship.
There are many different levels and ideas of trust but the real trust which we look for is in the idea that we can know and understand another human being so well that there is an explicit understanding of exactly what they mean. A trust which goes beyond words and into the depths of who that person is, subconsciously knowing their body language which says often so much more than what comes from their mouths.
And then there is the trust which is rooted into the confidence one had with an absolute truth. It is not an idea that we put trust into as much as some people would like to say that it is, but trust always belongs to a being. They may trust a friend, relative, of teacher who told them about this; or they may trust in themselves and their own understanding of the way things are, but for some they trust in an invisible and eternal being who is so much more trustworthy than any other since he had known us since the beginning of the world and promises to be with us into eternity - He knows us completely in a way that no other ever can, he understands, and while we don't know him the same way he never changes so only truth comes from him and he invites us to come and know him in a similar way, even if it will take eternity - it is an adventure and relationship greater than any other.
Do you have any thoughts on trust???
