Related Articles
We live in an age in which one of the seemingly most innocent phrases has become one of the most dangerous from an intellectual and spiritual point of view: “That is your truth.”
The expression seems kind. It avoids arguments. It gives the impression of respecting the other person. It even seems like a sign of tolerance. However, when it becomes a philosophical principle, it contains an extraordinarily profound claim: that truth would not be something we discover, but something each person constructs; that there would be no objective reality that must be known, but as many “truths” as there are individuals; that what is true would be whatever each person feels, thinks, or interprets.
Thus begins the virus of subjectivism.
This is not simply a philosophical current reserved for university professors. Subjectivism has penetrated politics, education, personal relationships, social media, morality, the family, and, in a particularly troubling way, even certain religious environments.
“I see it this way.”
“For me, God is…”
“My spirituality tells me…”
“I feel that this is right.”
“Everyone has their own truth.”
“No one can tell me what is right.”
“What matters is being true to yourself.”
These are common expressions in our culture. Some may have a legitimate meaning in certain contexts. The problem arises when they are used to deny that there is a reality independent of our consciousness.
Because then a question arises that we cannot avoid:
What if reality has no obligation to adapt itself to what we think about it?
The Catholic philosophical tradition answers with a simple but revolutionary affirmation:
Truth does not originate within us. Truth is discovered.
And Thomistic realism provides us with one of the strongest intellectual tools for understanding why.
1. The problem begins when we confuse what we feel with what is
Imagine that a person looks out the window and says:
“It is raining.”
Another person replies:
“I feel that it is not raining.”
Do we have two truths here?
No.
We have one reality and two statements about that reality. One of them will be true and the other false, regardless of what each person feels.
If it is actually raining, the rain does not depend on the observer’s opinion.
The rain exists outside his head.
This seems elementary. Yet when we transfer the same principle to the moral, anthropological, or religious sphere, many people begin to think differently.
A person can say:
“For me, marriage means this.”
But marriage does not become something different because someone has a particular opinion about it.
Someone may say:
“I believe that human beings are simply matter.”
But the existence of a spiritual reality does not depend on that person recognizing it.
Another may say:
“For me, God does not exist.”
But God’s existence is not annulled by that denial.
Here we encounter a fundamental distinction:
having an opinion about reality is one thing; creating reality through an opinion is something entirely different.
Subjectivism confuses the two.
2. What really is subjectivism?
We can define subjectivism, in simple terms, as the tendency to make truth depend upon the experience, consciousness, perception, or judgment of the subject.
The problem is not simply recognizing that our perception is limited.
That is obvious.
Nor is it a problem to recognize that every person has a different history, sensitivity, and set of experiences.
That is also true.
The problem begins when we move from:
“I perceive reality in a certain way”
to:
“Reality is whatever I perceive it to be.”
The first statement recognizes our limitations.
The second makes the subject the measure of reality.
And here we encounter one of the great problems of contemporary culture: human beings have progressively moved from asking:
“What is true?”
to asking:
“What is true for me?”
The change from one question to the other may seem small.
It is not.
The first question presupposes that there is a truth we must discover.
The second presupposes that truth can change according to who answers.
3. “My truth” is not the same as truth
There is an expression that deserves careful analysis:
“My truth.”
It can have a legitimate meaning if by it we mean:
“This is my personal experience.”
For example:
“My truth is that that situation caused me suffering.”
In that case, we are speaking about a real subjective experience.
But the expression becomes problematic when it means:
“My opinion determines what is true.”
Because then we are no longer talking about experience, but about objective truth.
And here we must recover a fundamental distinction:
Some things are subjective and other things are objective.
The pain I experience is subjective insofar as it is a personal experience.
But the existence of a physical injury may be an objective reality.
My fear is an interior experience.
But whether there is a real danger outside me is another question.
My opinion about a person is subjective.
But that person’s objective dignity does not depend on my opinion.
My perception of God may be limited.
But God does not depend upon my perception.
This leads us directly to the heart of realism.
4. Realism: the world does not begin when you look at it
Philosophical realism makes an extraordinarily simple claim:
Reality exists independently of whether I know it.
A mountain was there before you were born.
The universe existed before you had an opinion about it.
Your parents existed before you could understand who they were.
The moral law did not begin when you discovered that it existed.
God did not begin to exist when you started believing in Him.
And Christ did not become true because someone decided to follow Him.
Reality precedes our consciousness.
We arrive in a world that already exists.
We are not its intellectual creators.
We are its discoverers.
And this has enormous spiritual consequences:
Christian life does not consist in inventing God, but in encountering God.
5. Saint Thomas Aquinas and truth
Here we encounter the extraordinary depth of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
For Thomistic thought, truth has a fundamental relationship with being.
The famous Thomistic definition of truth speaks of “adaequatio intellectus et rei,” that is, the adequation or correspondence of the intellect to reality.
Put simply:
knowing the truth means that our thought conforms to what things really are.
We do not make something true because we think it is true.
Our intellect is true when it correctly recognizes reality.
If I say:
“This is a tree,”
and it actually is a tree, my judgment is true.
If I say:
“This is a horse,”
when it is actually a tree, my judgment is false.
The object has not changed.
What needs to be corrected is my intellect.
This idea, apparently elementary, is a genuine intellectual bomb against subjectivism.
Because it means that reality has authority over our minds.
We are not the ones who dictate judgment about being.
Being sets limits upon our thinking.
6. Human intelligence is made for truth
The Catholic tradition does not regard human intelligence as merely an instrument for manufacturing opinions.
Intelligence has a purpose:
to know reality.
Saint Thomas teaches that the human intellect is ordered toward truth.
That is why we experience profound uneasiness when we discover that we have been living in error.
And that is why intellectual conversion can be painful.
Because accepting the truth sometimes means acknowledging:
“I was wrong.”
And that sentence is increasingly difficult in a culture that has turned personal identity into a kind of impregnable fortress.
Today many people would rather defend an erroneous opinion than admit they were wrong.
Why?
Because they have confused two things:
being wrong and being less valuable.
But they are not the same.
A person can be mistaken and still retain all his dignity.
Indeed, recognizing an error can be one of the noblest manifestations of intelligence.
7. Intellectual humility is a Christian virtue
Christianity does not begin by saying:
“You already have all the answers.”
It begins by saying:
“Seek the truth.”
Human beings need to learn.
They need to listen.
They need to study.
They need to allow themselves to be corrected.
They need to recognize their limitations.
This is not humiliation.
It is humility.
Intellectual humility does not mean thinking:
“I cannot know anything.”
It means recognizing:
“I can know the truth, but I am not its absolute measure.”
This distinction is fundamental.
The relativist ends by saying:
“There is no absolute truth.”
The realist responds:
“Your inability to fully comprehend a truth does not mean that the truth does not exist.”
8. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”
The Gospel of Saint John contains one of the most profound statements in the entire history of humanity:
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Christ does not say:
“You will invent your own truth.”
He does not say:
“Everyone will have their own truth.”
He says:
“You will know the truth.”
Truth appears here as something that exists and can be known.
And, moreover, there is a direct relationship between truth and freedom.
This is essential for understanding the contemporary crisis.
Modern culture has repeated for decades that freedom means being able to choose.
But Christianity adds a much deeper question:
Choose what?
Because freedom separated from truth can easily become slavery.
9. Freedom needs truth
Imagine a man who decides to drive his car while completely ignoring the laws of physics.
He says:
“I do not believe in gravity.”
He may feel intellectually free.
But when he jumps from a building, he will discover that reality does not negotiate.
Gravity does not respect our opinions.
The same thing happens with moral reality.
A person may say:
“I do not believe that certain actions have consequences.”
But the consequences may arrive nevertheless.
Freedom does not mean being able to do anything without consequences.
Freedom means being able to choose the good according to the truth about ourselves and the world.
Saint Thomas understands freedom in relation to intelligence and the good.
Human beings desire because they know.
And they truly desire when they know a genuine good.
That is why lies do not liberate.
Lies disorient.
10. Subjectivism promises freedom, but can produce slavery
Here we encounter one of the great paradoxes of our time.
We are told:
“Be yourself.”
But we are rarely asked:
“Who are you really?”
We are told:
“Follow your feelings.”
But almost no one asks:
“Are your feelings directed toward a true good?”
We are told:
“Do whatever makes you happy.”
But we should ask:
“What is happiness really?”
Contemporary culture often identifies happiness with satisfaction.
But the Christian tradition distinguishes between momentary pleasure and authentic good.
Not everything I desire is good for me.
Not everything that makes me feel good is good.
Not everything that satisfies me leads me to happiness.
And here we encounter a profoundly uncomfortable truth:
our desires also need to be educated.
11. Not every feeling is a revelation
One of the symptoms of contemporary subjectivism is the absolutization of feelings.
“I feel it, therefore it must be true.”
But that is not how it works.
Fear can be real without what we fear actually being dangerous.
Jealousy can be intense without infidelity actually existing.
Sadness can be profound without our interpretation of events being correct.
Anger can be legitimate as an emotion and yet lead us to an unjust judgment.
Feeling informs us, but it does not always judge correctly.
That is why the Christian tradition has never taught us to destroy emotions.
Emotions must be ordered by reason and perfected by grace.
We are not machines.
But neither are we merely feelings.
We are persons endowed with intelligence, will, body, and soul.
12. The heart can be mistaken
Scripture is remarkably realistic about the human heart.
The prophet Jeremiah says:
“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”
The Bible does not teach us to distrust everything we feel, but to recognize that our interior life can be wounded and disordered.
Original sin has affected humanity.
The intellect remains capable of knowing truth, but it is weakened.
The will remains free, but it is inclined toward evil.
Desires can become disordered.
Conscience can become deformed.
Therefore, spiritual life does not simply consist in “looking within” and assuming that everything we find there comes from God.
Not every thought comes from God.
Not every desire comes from God.
Not every emotion is an inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Not every interior experience is a revelation.
We need discernment.
13. Subjectivism can also enter religious life
This point deserves particular attention.
There is secular subjectivism and there is also religious subjectivism.
The first says:
“I determine what is true.”
The second may say:
“I determine what God wants from me.”
Apparently they are different.
In reality, they may have the same root:
placing the subject above objective reality.
For example:
“I feel that God forgives me, therefore I do not need confession.”
But the Sacrament of Penance does not depend upon our emotional state.
Another may say:
“I feel that this doctrine no longer makes sense.”
But a doctrine does not cease to be true because it is difficult for us.
Another may say:
“My conscience tells me that something is right.”
But conscience does not create the moral law.
Conscience judges good and evil.
And in order to judge correctly, it needs to be formed.
14. Conscience is not a factory of truth
This is one of the most important errors of our time.
We hear:
“I follow my conscience.”
The statement can be correct if it means:
“I must act according to my rightly formed conscience.”
But it is false if it means:
“Whatever I decide is right automatically becomes good.”
Conscience is not a sovereign legislator.
It does not invent the moral law.
It is the judgment of reason by which a person recognizes the moral dimension of a concrete act.
Therefore, there is a grave obligation to form one’s conscience.
Voluntary ignorance does not turn error into truth.
Conscience needs to be enlightened by:
- Revelation;
- Sacred Scripture;
- Tradition;
- the Magisterium of the Church;
- natural law;
- rightly formed reason;
- prayer;
- prudent spiritual direction.
The Christian is not called to obey impulses blindly.
He is called to sincerely seek the good and the truth.
15. Natural law: a truth inscribed in human reality
Here Thomistic thought offers an extraordinary tool for understanding our time.
Saint Thomas explains that there is a participation of the rational creature in the eternal law of God: this is natural law.
Natural law does not simply mean “whatever seems natural to me.”
It means that there is an objective order inscribed in human nature and knowable by reason.
Therefore, certain actions can be objectively good or evil.
Not because society approves of them.
Not because a majority votes for them.
Not because a person feels comfortable with them.
Morality is not determined by polls.
Moral truth is not decided by majority vote.
An entire society can be mistaken.
A majority can approve an injustice.
History demonstrates this.
16. If the majority decides truth, truth ceases to exist
This is one of the great dangers of relativism.
If truth depends on the majority, then a majority can turn a lie into truth.
But that is impossible.
Imagine a vote:
“Is the statement that two plus two equals five true?”
Even if one hundred percent of the population votes “yes,” it will remain false.
Reality does not function democratically.
Democracy can decide who governs.
It can establish certain prudential norms.
It can organize coexistence.
But it cannot turn evil into good or falsehood into truth.
That is why even democracy needs a prior moral truth.
Without it, democracy risks becoming the tyranny of the majority.
17. Moral relativism and the destruction of trust
A society needs shared truths.
It needs to believe that there are certain things that must never be done.
It needs to recognize human dignity.
It needs to protect the innocent.
It needs to respect promises.
It needs to distinguish between justice and injustice.
It needs to recognize that objective duties exist.
When everything becomes opinion, trust begins to disappear.
Because if there is no objective truth, why should someone keep his word when breaking it benefits him?
If morality is simply a personal construction, why should anyone sacrifice himself for another?
If human dignity depends on a social decision, what prevents a society from changing its criteria?
Christianity responds clearly:
human dignity does not come from the State, the majority, or individual opinion.
It comes from God.
Human beings have been created in the image and likeness of God.
18. Man does not invent himself
One of the great tendencies of contemporary culture is to present identity as a completely autonomous construction.
“I am whatever I decide to be.”
But Christian realism begins in another direction:
before you decide who you are, you already are someone.
You have received a nature.
You have received existence.
You have received a body.
You have received reason.
You have received a will.
You were born within a history.
You received a family.
And, above all, you are a creature.
This word is fundamental:
creature.
Modern man wants to be the absolute author of himself.
Christianity reminds him that he is not God.
And, paradoxically, recognizing that we are creatures does not diminish our dignity.
It grounds it.
Because if we are created by God, our existence has an objective meaning.
We do not have to invent our value.
We have received it.
19. Christ did not come to confirm our opinions
Jesus Christ does not present Himself in the Gospel as a therapist whose job is to validate everything we think.
Christ calls us to conversion.
He says:
“Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
Conversion means precisely a change of direction.
If I were already perfectly the measure of truth, I would not need to convert.
But Christianity affirms that I can be mistaken.
I can be disordered.
I can need correction.
I can need forgiveness.
I can need grace.
The Gospel does not simply come to tell us:
“Everything inside you is fine.”
It comes to say:
“Come, follow me.”
And following Christ means allowing Him to transform our minds, our wills, our desires, and our lives.
20. Saint Paul against the dictatorship of the dominant mentality
Saint Paul writes to the Romans:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
The expression is extraordinarily relevant today.
“Do not be conformed to this world.”
Culture has enormous power to shape our perception of reality.
What seemed absurd yesterday can eventually seem normal.
What once caused scandal can eventually be considered indifferent.
What was once regarded as virtue can eventually be presented as weakness.
That is why the Christian needs a formed intellect.
It is not enough to have good intentions.
We need to learn to think Christianly.
21. Social media and the factory of subjectivities
Social media has multiplied this problem.
Every user lives surrounded by a digital environment designed to show content compatible with his preferences.
Little by little, a dangerous illusion can appear:
“Everyone thinks like me.”
But not necessarily.
The algorithm may have built a bubble around our perception.
The person begins to confuse:
“This constantly appears on my screen”
with:
“This is reality.”
They are not the same thing.
Social media can amplify emotions, outrage, fear, tribalism, and polarization.
And subjectivism finds extraordinarily fertile ground there.
Why?
Because many platforms reward immediate reaction.
Truth requires patience.
Outrage is instantaneous.
Truth requires study.
An opinion can be published in ten seconds.
Truth requires arguments.
22. The culture of permanent opinion
We have never had so many means of speaking.
But speaking a lot does not mean thinking well.
We live in an age in which practically everyone can immediately express an opinion about:
- theology;
- medicine;
- history;
- philosophy;
- politics;
- morality;
- science;
- liturgy;
- education;
- psychology.
The problem is not that people have opinions.
The problem is that we have come to confuse having an opinion with having knowledge.
An opinion may simply be an impression.
Knowledge requires reasons.
Therefore, the Christian should recover a culture of study.
Read.
Ask questions.
Compare.
Listen.
Consult reliable sources.
Know Tradition.
Study the Catechism.
Read the Fathers of the Church.
Know Saint Thomas.
Study Scripture.
And, above all, learn to distinguish between what the Church teaches and what someone on the internet claims that the Church teaches.
23. “I think” is not a sufficient argument
One of the most frequent phrases in contemporary discussions is:
“I think that…”
Fine.
But then another question should follow:
“Why?”
Because an opinion needs a foundation.
“I think the Church is wrong.”
Why?
“I think this doctrine is outdated.”
Why?
“I think this is morally correct.”
Why?
Rational thinking does not consist in accumulating opinions.
It consists in providing reasons capable of supporting them.
And here we find a great affinity between the Catholic faith and reason.
The Church is not afraid of truth.
Because every truth comes from God.
24. Catholic faith is not religious subjectivism
Christian faith does not mean:
“I feel that God exists.”
Faith is a rational and supernatural response to God’s Revelation.
God has spoken.
God has revealed Himself.
God has entered history.
God has established a covenant.
The Word became flesh.
Christ died and rose again.
The Apostles received a mission.
The Church received the deposit of faith.
Therefore, Christianity is not an individually invented spirituality.
It is an objective reality.
Faith does not consist in constructing a personalized God.
It consists in receiving the true God who has revealed Himself.
25. “My Jesus” and the danger of manufacturing Christ to fit our preferences
There is an expression that may sound pious:
“My Jesus.”
Of course, Christ can be loved personally.
Our relationship with Him should be deeply personal.
But Christ cannot be reinvented.
We cannot manufacture a Jesus who simply confirms our preferences.
A Jesus who never corrects.
A Jesus who never demands.
A Jesus who never speaks about sin.
A Jesus who never speaks about judgment.
A Jesus who never asks for sacrifice.
A Jesus who approves absolutely everything.
That Jesus is not the Christ of the Gospel.
Christ loves the sinner.
But precisely because He loves him, He calls him to conversion.
Christian love and truth are not enemies.
Love without truth becomes sentimentalism.
Truth without love can become harshness.
Christ unites both perfectly.
26. The Church is not the owner of truth, but its servant
Here too we must be precise.
The Church does not invent truth.
She does not arbitrarily decide what is true.
The Church has received a deposit.
Therefore, her mission is to guard it, transmit it, explain it, and defend it.
The Church cannot change the Gospel simply because cultural fashions change.
Just as a museum is not the owner of a masterpiece that it may simply modify at will, the Church guards a treasure she has received.
Saint Paul speaks of the Gospel as a deposit that must be guarded.
Catholic Tradition understands Revelation as something received from God and transmitted through the Apostles.
Therefore, the Christian does not ask only:
“What do I think?”
He also asks:
“What has the Church received and taught?”
27. Tradition does not mean living in the past
This point is especially important for Catholics who love Tradition.
Defending realism does not mean rejecting everything modern.
It does not mean that everything ancient is automatically true or that everything new is automatically false.
The criterion is different:
Is it true?
An idea can be ancient and false.
An idea can be recent and true.
Catholic Tradition is not nostalgia.
It is the living transmission of the faith received from the Apostles.
And precisely because truth does not depend on fashions, it can cross the centuries.
A truth does not grow old because two thousand years have passed.
Two plus two is still four.
And the truth about God does not change because a generation changes.
28. Subjectivism ultimately destroys even dialogue
There is a paradox.
Subjectivist culture claims to desire tolerance.
But if every person possesses “his own truth,” on what basis can we discuss?
If you have your truth and I have mine, what does it mean to convince you?
Nothing.
We can only negotiate preferences.
And then rational dialogue disappears.
True dialogue requires a premise:
there is a reality that both of us can attempt to know.
That is why realism is far more favorable to dialogue than relativism.
If truth exists, we can seek it together.
We can be mistaken.
We can correct one another.
We can learn.
We can grow.
But if truth is simply an individual construction, conversation becomes a struggle between wills.
29. Truth demands conversion
Here we reach a profoundly spiritual point.
Truth does not merely inform.
Truth judges us.
When we discover a moral truth, we cannot remain completely neutral.
If I discover that something is wrong and deliberately continue doing it, the problem is no longer intellectual.
It is moral.
That is why Christ says:
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
First comes abiding in the word.
Then comes knowledge.
And finally freedom.
Christian truth is not a museum object.
It is a call to live differently.
30. Subjectivism can become a defense of sin
Here we encounter one of the reasons why subjectivism is spiritually dangerous.
Sometimes we do not say:
“This is good because it really is good.”
We say it because we want to justify what we have already decided to do.
First I desire something.
Then I look for a theory that justifies it.
First I make a decision.
Then I construct a moral explanation.
First I sin.
Then I try to prove that sin does not exist.
Intelligence can then become an attorney for a disordered will.
Saint Thomas understood perfectly the relationship between intellect and will.
Man can know the good and nevertheless choose evil.
That is why we need not only intellectual formation.
We need conversion of the heart.
31. Truth can also hurt
A deeply subjectivist culture tends to regard any statement that causes discomfort as intolerable.
But truth can hurt.
A medical diagnosis can hurt.
Recognizing a mistake can hurt.
Discovering that we have been unjust can hurt.
Accepting that we must ask forgiveness can hurt.
Discovering that a certain behavior is sinful can hurt.
But the pain of truth can be medicinal.
A wound that the doctor cleans may hurt more at first.
But precisely because he wants to heal it.
Christian truth does not seek to destroy us.
It seeks to free us.
32. Truth and mercy
This allows us to understand true mercy better.
Mercy does not mean saying:
“It does not matter what you do.”
It means saying:
“What you have done may be serious, but God’s grace can raise you up.”
Denying sin is not mercy.
Leaving the sinner trapped in his sin is not mercy either.
True mercy unites:
truth + love + conversion + grace.
Christ does not humiliate the sinner.
But neither does He tell him that his sin does not matter.
He offers him a new path.
33. Truth has consequences for education
A society that abandons truth eventually turns education into nothing more than the transmission of preferences.
But educating means much more than allowing a child to “express himself.”
Education means helping him discover reality.
Teaching him to distinguish between true and false.
Between good and evil.
Between justice and injustice.
Between reality and appearance.
Between desire and good.
Between opinion and knowledge.
Between legitimate authority and manipulation.
A truly human education needs to form both intellect and will.
It is not enough to form efficient workers.
We must form people capable of seeking truth and living according to it.
34. The family is the first school of realism
The family has an extraordinary mission.
From a young age, a child learns that the world does not revolve around his desires.
He has to learn that there are limits.
There are schedules.
There are obligations.
Other people have rights.
He must tell the truth.
He must ask forgiveness.
He cannot do everything he wants.
His parents can correct him because they love him.
All of this is a first education in realism.
When a child constantly hears:
“It does not matter what you do, as long as you are happy,”
he may eventually understand that his desires are the ultimate criterion of good.
But Christian education says something much more beautiful:
“Learn to love what is truly good.”
35. Spiritual life needs to move beyond the “I”
Even prayer can become subjectivism.
There is a kind of prayer centered exclusively on:
“Give me.”
“Make me feel good.”
“Make everything turn out the way I want.”
“Confirm my decisions.”
But Christian prayer reaches its summit when we learn to say:
“Your will be done.”
This phrase from the Lord’s Prayer is a genuine revolution against subjectivism.
It does not say:
“My will be done.”
It says:
“Your will be done.”
Because God is truth.
And our freedom reaches its perfection when our will is united to the true good.
36. The Virgin Mary: the antidote to subjectivism
The Virgin Mary represents precisely the opposite of the subjectivist spirit.
At the angel’s announcement, she does not respond:
“I have my own truth.”
She does not respond:
“I feel that this does not fit my plans.”
She does not try to impose her own interpretation.
She says:
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.”
Mary opens herself to a truth that comes from God.
Her greatness consists precisely in receiving.
She receives a vocation.
She receives a mission.
She receives grace.
She receives the Word.
And therefore she becomes the Mother of God.
In Mary we discover a fundamental truth:
the creature reaches greatness not when it becomes God, but when it trustingly abandons itself to God.
37. Saint Joseph and obedience to a reality he does not control
Saint Joseph also offers a magnificent lesson.
When he discovers a situation he does not understand, God intervenes through the angel.
Joseph does not demand absolute control of every aspect of reality before obeying.
He trusts.
He acts.
He obeys.
His greatness also lies in recognizing that reality does not have to submit to his plans.
Modern man wants to control.
The Christian learns to discern.
Modern man says:
“My project.”
The Christian learns to say:
“Lord, what do You want from me?”
38. The antidote: recovering love for truth
How can we combat the virus of subjectivism?
It is not enough to criticize relativists.
We must form people who love truth.
First: learn to ask “is it true?”
Before sharing something on social media.
Before becoming indignant.
Before accusing.
Before judging.
Before accepting a doctrine.
Let us ask:
Is it true?
Second: distinguish facts from opinions
Not everything circulating on the internet has the same value.
Third: study
A Catholic who wants to defend his faith needs to know it.
Fourth: read primary sources
Sacred Scripture.
The Catechism.
The Fathers of the Church.
Saint Thomas.
Magisterial documents.
Fifth: accept correction
We do not need to be right all the time.
We need to love truth more than our pride.
39. An extraordinarily powerful spiritual practice: saying “I was wrong”
There is a small phrase that can become an authentic ascetic practice:
“I was wrong.”
Saying it sincerely destroys pride.
But it also liberates.
Because when I stop needing to be right all the time, I can begin to learn.
The Christian should be able to say:
“I do not know.”
“I need to study it.”
“Perhaps I am mistaken.”
“I am going to check.”
“You are right.”
“Forgive me.”
These phrases do not weaken a person.
They make him intellectually humble.
40. Truth is not an opinion expressed with greater confidence
In the age of social media, a person can express an opinion with enormous certainty.
But psychological confidence does not prove truth.
Someone can be completely convinced and completely wrong.
Truth does not depend on the intensity with which we affirm something.
It depends on its correspondence with reality.
Therefore, we must learn an interior discipline:
do not confuse conviction with truth.
I can be convinced of something false.
And I can discover a truth that initially makes me uncomfortable.
41. True critical thinking does not mean doubting everything
Today there is much talk about critical thinking.
But genuine critical thinking does not mean suspecting absolutely everything.
That too can become a form of subjectivism.
Authentic critical thinking consists in:
- analyzing;
- distinguishing;
- comparing;
- asking questions;
- seeking evidence;
- using reason;
- recognizing fallacies;
- consulting sources;
- accepting conclusions even when we dislike them.
The goal is not to end by saying:
“Nothing can be known.”
The goal is to be able to say:
“Now I understand better what really is.”
42. Realism is a school of freedom
Thomistic realism may seem, at first glance, to be an abstract matter.
It is not.
It has concrete consequences.
If truth exists outside my head:
I can learn.
I can repent.
I can convert.
I can be corrected.
I can forgive.
I can ask forgiveness.
I can discover that my desires are not always good.
I can recognize that another person is right.
I can discover God.
I can receive Revelation.
I can abandon an ideology.
I can change my life.
That is why realism is not a prison.
It is a door.
Because if reality exists, I can move beyond myself.
43. The great problem of subjectivism is that it traps man inside himself
Perhaps this is the best way to summarize the entire problem.
Subjectivism ultimately says:
“I can only trust my own perception.”
But if everything is inside me, how can I get outside myself?
How can I truly know another person?
How can I know God?
How can I discover a truth that contradicts me?
How can I accept that I was wrong?
Realism opens a window.
It tells me:
there is a world outside me.
There are other people.
There is reality.
There is a nature.
There is a moral order.
There is truth.
And finally, there is God.
44. The supreme truth is not an idea: it is a Person
Here Christianity surpasses even philosophy.
Philosophy seeks truth.
The Church announces that Truth has come to meet us.
Christ says:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
Consider the depth of this statement.
Christ does not simply say:
“I teach a truth.”
He says:
“I am the truth.”
Christian truth is not an abstract formula.
It is Christ.
Therefore, knowing truth ultimately means entering into relationship with Him.
The defense of Thomistic realism is not merely an intellectual battle.
It is also a preparation for understanding the Gospel.
Because if there is no objective truth, Revelation becomes merely one more religious opinion.
But if objective truth exists, then we can seriously ask:
Who is Jesus Christ?
And if He is truly who He says He is, then our entire life must respond.
45. The Christian does not have “his truth”: he has a received truth
This statement may be provocative:
the Christian does not possess a private truth.
He has received a truth.
He has received a Gospel.
He has received a faith.
He has received the sacraments.
He has received a tradition.
He has received a mission.
And he has the responsibility of guarding that deposit without adulterating it.
This does not mean that all Catholics understand everything perfectly.
No.
The Church herself recognizes that our understanding can deepen.
But one thing is to grow in our understanding of a truth and another is to change the truth in order to adapt it to our preferences.
46. The world needs Catholics who know how to say “this is true”
In a society tired of relativism, the Christian has an extraordinary mission.
He should not simply be someone who says:
“I respect all opinions.”
He should be someone capable of saying, with charity and humility:
“This is true.”
And also:
“This is false.”
“This is good.”
“This is evil.”
“This leads to life.”
“This destroys man.”
But he must do so without arrogance.
Because defending truth does not mean considering oneself superior to others.
Truth makes us humble.
Why?
Because truth is not our property.
We have received it.
47. Truth and charity must walk together
There is a temptation in the struggle against relativism: to become a permanently angry person.
That would be a mistake.
The Christian is not called to win arguments.
He is called to win souls for Christ.
Saint Paul teaches that we must live the truth in charity.
Truth without charity can become a stone thrown at another person.
Charity without truth can become a kind lie.
Christ teaches us something much more difficult:
to love the other enough not to lie to him and to love him enough not to humiliate him.
48. A practical guide to combating subjectivism every day
We can turn everything above into a small daily examination.
Before asserting something, ask:
1. Am I describing a fact or expressing an opinion?
2. What reasons do I have for thinking this?
3. Am I willing to accept that I may be wrong?
4. Have I consulted reliable sources?
5. Am I confusing what I feel with what is?
6. Am I justifying something I want to do?
7. Am I allowing social media to shape my view of the world?
8. Do I really know what the Church teaches about this matter?
9. Is my conscience properly formed?
10. Am I seeking truth or simply seeking confirmation?
This last question is especially important.
Because many times we are not looking for truth.
We are looking for someone to tell us that we are already right.
49. The nightly spiritual examination
We can even bring this struggle into our evening prayer.
Before going to sleep, we can ask ourselves:
Have I preferred truth to my pride today?
Have I acknowledged any mistake?
Have I judged someone hastily?
Have I confused my feelings with reality?
Have I truly sought God’s will?
Have I allowed an opinion on the internet to disturb my peace?
Have I spoken about things I do not really know?
Have I studied something today that helps me know my faith better?
Have I asked God for light to know the truth?
This examination can become a powerful school of humility.
50. Subjectivism is defeated not only with arguments, but with holiness
Finally, we must remember something essential.
The problem of subjectivism is not exclusively intellectual.
It is also spiritual.
A person may reject truth because truth demands conversion.
That is why we need grace.
We need prayer.
We need the sacraments.
We need confession.
We need prudent spiritual direction.
We need formation.
We need silence.
We need Eucharistic adoration.
We need to read the Gospel.
We need to ask the Holy Spirit for the gifts of understanding and wisdom.
The intellect needs light.
And the heart needs purification.
Conclusion: escaping the prison of the “I”
The virus of subjectivism begins with an apparently innocent phrase:
“For me…”
And it ends by building a prison.
Because if everything depends upon me, then my world becomes as small as my own consciousness.
But Christianity opens the windows.
It tells me that an external reality exists.
That truth exists.
That good exists.
That natural law exists.
That Revelation exists.
That the Church exists.
That there is a history of salvation.
That there is a sacramental reality.
And, finally, that God exists.
Saint Thomas reminds us that the human intellect is called to know being and that truth consists in the adequation of the intellect to reality.
The Gospel takes this affirmation much further.
Because Truth is not merely something we must know.
Truth has sought us.
Truth has a face.
Truth became flesh.
Truth died on a cross.
Truth rose again.
Truth calls us by name.
Therefore, in response to the contemporary cry:
“This is my truth,”
the Christian does not need to respond arrogantly:
“I have the truth.”
He should respond humbly:
“Truth is not mine. Truth belongs to God, and I am called to seek it, receive it, live it, and proclaim it.”
And then we understand Christ’s words:
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Not because we can manufacture a truth that is comfortable for us.
But precisely because we can abandon our own lies.
Not because God must adapt Himself to us.
But because we can be converted to Him.
Not because reality has to fit inside our heads.
But because our intellect can open itself to reality.
And not because everyone must construct his own path.
But because Christ has said:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
That is the true antidote to subjectivism.
To move beyond ourselves in order to encounter reality.
To move beyond opinion in order to seek truth.
To move beyond pride in order to accept correction.
To move beyond self-sufficiency in order to receive grace.
And finally, to move beyond ourselves in order to encounter God.
