“What Is Truth?”: Living Into Truth—From Search to Shared Creation

Dear Friends,

For the last two weeks, we’ve walked together through some of the most daunting, yet essential, territory in both scripture and everyday life.

From Pilate’s infamous question—“What is truth?”—echoing across the marble floors of empire, through the fault lines of our own inherited traditions, to moments of personal reckoning where certainty crumbles and only the search itself remains, we have exposed the bones of our inquiry for all to see.

Today, I want to turn, finally, toward hope—not a blind optimism or easy “answer,” but a vision of truth that is lived, created, and sustained in community. If the first two posts traced the loneliness and courage of questioning, this conclusion is about what comes next:

What does it mean to live in the light of truth, not as isolated seekers, but as members of a living, truth-seeking people?

From Deconstruction… to Construction

Let’s be honest.

The work of dismantling tradition—personal, cultural, even scientific—is exhausting.

Many of us, myself included, have spent seasons wandering among the ruins of old certainties, wondering if anything meaningful can be rebuilt.

Yet as I reflect on my own long journey—a path chronicled in The People of the Sign and its sequels—I see that each letting go, each honest admission of “I don’t know,” cleared ground for something new. It is one thing to question, another to reconstruct.

And it is here, standing in the space made by honest inquiry, that something remarkable can happen: a willingness to build, with others, not monuments to our own opinions, but bridges toward collective wisdom.

This is not the unity of forced creeds or hollow consensus.

As I wrote after years of institutional upheaval: “God never intended for humans to rule over each other... Christ brought freedom.” In seeking truth together, we trade hierarchy for community, prescription for participation.

Truth as a Verb: Conversation, Action, Growth

What, then, does it mean to “live” the truth? If Pilate’s tragic error was to treat the question as an abstraction or evasive tactic, our opportunity is to make truth a verb—a practice grounded in action, relationship, and responsiveness.

Truth, as I now see it, lives in the:

Conversations that refuse caricature and welcome difference.
Experiments—scientific or spiritual—that test, refine, and, yes, sometimes fail.
Communities that blend reverence for tradition with an unflinching commitment to ongoing investigation.
Service: Our “contribution to the well-being of the human race,” as the Bahá’í writings put it, becomes both a metric and a crucible for truth’s claims.

Without these, “truth” remains an idol—unmoved and unmoving.

But when we risk living our questions, listening to each other, and building together, we make ourselves available to something greater than certainty: transformation.

From the Lone Seeker to the Circle of Seekers

My trilogy’s closing conviction is that the search is not, and never was, a solo endeavor. Even Jesus, in those final hours, gathered his friends—even as they misunderstood, scattered, regrouped. In every chapter of my own story—from fractious church conferences to cross-continental endeavors in science, ministry, and youth camps—true insight came when I was willing to be changed by contact: by a classmate’s question, a mentor’s challenge, a child’s unguarded honesty.

This is why our new community—with its podcast, writing, and dialogue—is more than content. It is, I pray, a living experiment in co-creating truth. Not one voice, but a symphony, sometimes out of tune, yet richer for the presence of every instrument.

It is why, when “Created in the Image of God” debuted this week with Mehrtash Olson, it was not simply a lecture, but an invitation: What if journalism, learning, even skepticism itself could become acts of service? What if every question was a doorway to reconciliation and courage?

What Now? Practicing—and Building—Shared Truth

Friends, let’s refuse to treat this series as a concluding chapter. Let’s treat it as a launchpad.

Truth is lived, not simply referenced.
Community is built, not inherited.
Wisdom is discovered, not dictated.

So, as we close this “What Is Truth?” trilogy, I invite you—yes, you—to join in the ongoing practice:

Share your Pilate moments, your tradition-breakings, your new beginnings, right here or by email (Wade@soopmedia.net).
Suggest a theme, experiment, or dilemma for the podcast and community—especially where science and revelation intersect.
Volunteer to bring your questions, story, or expertise onto a panel or episode—there is always room for another seeker in this circle.
Reflect openly, both in dialog and in service: where has living your truth—however imperfectly—opened a wider space for others to do the same?

And above all: return weekly—as reader, thinker, or doer—to help craft the next stage of this adventure. The only thing more vital than asking “What is truth?” is living as though its search matters. As Bahá’u’lláh urges:

“Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.”

From Question to Calling

May our searching be fierce, but never bitter. May we honor the traditions that shaped us, without cowering before them. May we plant seeds of dialogue and shared endeavor that—while never guaranteeing “final” answers—offer food, shelter, and hope for future seekers.

I remain, as ever, grateful for this journey with you—for your stories, your resilience, your refusal to settle for easy answers.

Let’s continue building—one conversation, episode, and shared risk at a time—a community worthy of this ancient question.

With hope and anticipation,

—Wade Fransson

The truth, to borrow Lennon and McCartney’s words, “is something that we all must face.” But in facing it—together—we discover not just answers, but each other.

Comments and participation open below. To join or help shape our next conversation at the frontier of Science and Revelation, reply here or write Wade@soopmedia.net. Truth is not a destination, but a path—a path we are now walking, side by side.

References – Bahá’í Writings on Service & the Well-Being of Humanity

Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Section CVI, p. 213:
“Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.”
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Section CXXVIII, p. 286:
“The betterment of the world can be accomplished through pure and goodly deeds, through commendable and seemly conduct.”
Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, no. 12, p. 23:
“Let your thoughts dwell on your own spiritual development, and let your life be an example. Let your influence be a guiding force, and let your instruction be the well-being of mankind.”
The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 338:
“The supreme need of humanity is cooperation and reciprocity. The stronger the ties of fellowship and solidarity amongst men, the greater will be the power of constructiveness and accomplishment in all the planes of human activity.”
Letter dated 27 November 1991, on behalf of the Universal House of Justice:
“A Bahá’í is known by the contribution he or she makes to the betterment of society.”