This I Believe

I obtained an education in physics. One of my professors, who was on my graduate committee, was also a very religious man. One Sunday evening he talked to a gathering of his physics students and taught us a most interesting law about foundational principles which he derived by analogy from physics laws. Religion, of course, is about foundational principles.

In physics there are pairs of variables designated as complimentary. The accuracy with which you measure one variable of the pair determines the ability to accurately measure the other variable. If you measure one parameter with extreme accuracy, the other parameter is indeterminate, and vice-versa. Professor Gardner observed that truth and clarity are complementary variables. If something is completely true, it is absolutely unclear because of the messy complexities of reality, or if it is absolutely clear, there is little truth in it because of oversimplification.

As an example, take politics. Political campaigns are exercises in clarity. People are elected on sound bites and stump speeches, which are absolutely clear statements of principle. As we all know, these clear statements are to be mistrusted as to their truth because the complexities of reality are ignored. Truth comes when the clear statements are reduced to legislation, as our current energy bill with its 1700 pages of detail. It is totally murky, but absolutely true.

We order our lives with clarity since the truth is so complex. This NPR series is based on the idea that clear statements make a difference. We make decisions about our directions based on clear principles, those foundational principles in which we believe. Then we work out the outcome in truth in all its messy detail. As I have aged, the clarity of my youth has given way to the general murkiness of truth as my world-view has become richer and my experience deepened. As a result, it has become more difficult to express foundational beliefs without modifying clauses and conditions, even paragraphs of explanation This is truth, which I also clearly believe.