Truth is a word we use with remarkable certainty.
We say, “This is true,” or “That is false,” often without pausing to ask whether everything we call truth belongs to the same realm.
Some truths belong to the physical world, a world of things that can be observed, measured, tested, and verified.
An object has a form.
A distance can be measured.
A weight can be determined.
In such matters, people can often arrive at a common conclusion regardless of their personal beliefs.
But beyond this measurable world lies another realm
the world of ideas.
It is the world of philosophy, beliefs, values, meanings, convictions, and interpretations.
Here, truth is no longer something we can simply place before us, measure with an instrument, or establish through physical evidence.
And it is in this world of ideas that the notion of “ultimate truth” becomes fascinating.
What one person sincerely believes to be true may be rejected as false by another.
And what the second person holds as truth may appear equally false to the first.
Their beliefs may arise from different experiences, different cultures, different knowledge, different reasoning, and different ways of understanding existence.
Think of a coin with two sides.
One person may stand firmly on one side of an idea, while another stands just as firmly on the other.
Each may call his own position truth and the other falsehood.
But perhaps what separates them is not truth and falsehood at all.
Perhaps they are simply two beliefs looking at the same question from different perspectives.
That is why I do not believe that, in the conceptual world, there can ever be one final truth that must be accepted by every human being, in every place and in every age.
And I am not saying that such an ultimate truth is merely difficult to find.
I am saying something more fundamental:
There is no ultimate truth in the world of ideas.
What we often call a conceptual truth may ultimately be a belief — a belief held so deeply, and with such conviction, that over time we begin to give it the name of truth.
In that sense,
Every conceptual truth may simply be a belief wearing the name of truth.
But there is something important I must acknowledge.
I do not claim that what I am saying here is the truth either.
This is only my present understanding.
Tomorrow, my knowledge may expand.
My experiences may change.
My reasoning may deepen.
My perspective may shift.
And when they do, this very belief of mine may change with them, or even disappear altogether.
After all, how small is a human being in this vast and immeasurable universe?
And I am smaller still
a tiny firefly in an infinite expanse.
How then can I assume that my beliefs — shaped by my limited knowledge, experience, and understanding — represent an ultimate truth?
I cannot.
They are simply my beliefs, my present understanding of questions that may never submit themselves to physical proof or measurement.
So I choose to stand in a simpler and humbler place:
I do not possess the ultimate truth.
I possess only my present perspective.
Tomorrow’s knowledge may challenge it.
Tomorrow’s experience may reshape it.
A deeper understanding may overturn it entirely.
And I would always prefer to leave that door open.
Because the moment a belief declares itself to be the final truth, it closes the door to questioning, exploration, and further understanding.
So, after all these words, I return to where I began:
"There is no ultimate truth in the world of ideas —
not even this belief of mine."
-Yozen Balki 💞
