For many, the quest to know the truth is a purely rational quest. Thus, for example, Rene Descartes resolution to begin by doubting everything – all that he was told, and everything he perceived with his senses. Only by reasoning could he come to know the truth.
It’s easy to see why we would think this way. Truth is generally perceived as something we gain through intellectual endeavors.
However, what is overlooked in this approach is the health and effectiveness of the truth seeking instrument. The mind interacts with and is largely controlled by the heart, soul, and spirit of the person. Therefore the most perfectly trained mind cannot find truth if the soul of the seeker is disordered.
Consequently, and to the chagrine of some intellectuals, truth can only be gained by the soul that is actively loving his neighbor. If she is not doing so, then she is not healthy enough to perceive truth. Instead, she will reduce truth to something that fits within her self-determined parameters.
Caritas, Agape, Charity is an infinite act. When a person begins to perform it he comes in contact with an infinite reality deep in his heart. He gains a faculty of perception for things eternal, just as he gains a faculty of perception for things geometrical when he contemplates the definitiond and axioms of geometry and he gains a faculty of perception for things artistic when he contemplates and imitates works of art.
Only the actively loving person can ever know the truth because the truth is love and is bound to love.
