Truth about truth

What exactly is truth? Dictionary defines it as 'the true or actual state of a matter' . But is it possible to know  'actual state of a matter'? Or truth is dynamic as state of matter? By the time we observe the state of the matter and comprehend it,  the state itself can change.

Let us take an example. Initially the truth was the earth  is flat. The sun, moon, stars and all other heavenly bodies used to revolve around earth. Slowly this truth changed. Earth becomes round. It starts revolving around the sun. The moon starts revolving around the earth. Is it possible the massive bodies like sun, earth and other heavenly bodies to change their paths in thousand years?

Or the truth is bounded by our knowledge? The ancient people observed the sun rising everyday, and reach the conclusion the sun revolves around the earth. They assumed that all heavenly bodies move in a uniform circular motion. Later observations violated this assumption which could not be explained logically. So we switched to 'helio-centric model'.

Then what is knowledge? Dictionary defines it as 'knowing the truth'. If  truth is bounded by our knowledge and knowing the truth is knowledge, then we can never know the truth and we cannot have any knowledge. Plato defines it as 'justified true belief.' . But humans are very talented species. They can justify anything. The khap panchayats in Haryana executed young couples and term it as 'honour killing'.  This is their belief and they can go to any extent to justify it. There are people we believe the can reach heaven or 'Jannat' by killing people. November 26 2008, ten such people started firing randomly at Mumbai killing many. They only can explain their experience in heaven. Should we accept their belief and justification: Should  we term these people as knowledgeable?

Truth is bounded by our knowledge. Our knowledge is bounded by our perception and experience. Perception and experience varies from person to person. So there can be variations of truths. Each one us can claim our version to be correct. Should we keep fighting for our claim to be right and everybody else  is wrong?

The greatness of human race lies in its ability to adapt to new and unfamiliar situations. Have we lost this ability? If not , why would a student scoring 92% marks commit suicide?   Each moment brings new experiences and facts and revealing truth bit by bit. But we are not wiling accept it. We try to impose our version of truth on others. Some start firing indiscriminately and call it 'Jihad' and some others sabotage mosques and churches to establish 'Ram Rajya'. Leo tolstoy rightly said 'Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.' We forget that role of religion is not to threaten and enforce but to guide and enlighten.

Truth is something that we can never know completely. It is dynamic. It reveals itself each moment that comes. We just need to keep our mind open to know it as it comes and adapt to what it reveals.