6. Particular Truths And Ultimate Truth

Those who start out seriously enquiring for truth will find that at however lowly a level they start, they will not be logically able to resist asking what the Ultimate Truth about everything is.[p 182] [p 183] Truth at different levels Experience of life soon teaches us that the truth about things is to be found at different levels. Take water once more as a simple example. Level 1. At this level it is true to say that water can exist as a liquid, as a gas (steam) and as a solid (ice). But even at this level the one truth that water is wet is not equally applicable to all its three possible forms: steam is in fact dry and invisible until it mixes with air. Level 2. At the level of the constituent elements of water, the truth is that water is composed of two gases, hydrogen and oxygen. But neither of these gases is wet. If, therefore, we wish to consider the truth about the qualities of water at Level 1, we must 'leave behind' the truths of water at Level 2, however true they were at that level. Level 3. At the atomic and subatomic level the two elements are made up of atoms and particles in the same sense as all elements are; though the distinguishing truth about them would be the...