INTERPRETATION OF ‘THE TRUTH’ By

BACON
FROM ‘THE FIRST CREATURE OF GOD’ TO ‘FIND FAITH UPON THE
EARTH’
(BY: AMNA WALISTAN)

The God gave the light of sense to the mankind to His first creature. Using this, human beings could see
and feel the world around them. Then God gave the power of reason. Here, Bacon compares truth to
light and brings within the biblical example of God’s creation of sunshine. On a primary day, God created
light and on the sixth day he created man whom He gifted this “light of reason”. Using this, human
beings could reason what was good or bad in the things happening or being said around them. Thus,
human beings got the power of enlightenment. After this, God radiated light that illuminated the world
which was so disorderly then. Then when His light fell on human beings, it resulted in making them
superior in knowledge and wisdom to other species. After this, He focused his kindly light on the face of
those human beings whom He loved most.

Then, Bacon says that when one stands in the sea beach and gets to see ships being rocked violently by
the winds, it becomes a breath-taking experience. Likewise, one can stand by the window of a high
castle and watch the fight raging below which is quite different and unique experience. In the same way,
when a human being can realize truth, he can feel as if he stands atop a high mountain enjoying its
beauty and bliss. Attaining such an exalted status doesn’t mean that man should start feeling proud.
Rather, he should be humble and benign towards others and must engage in charity.

Putting light on theosophical and philosophical truth, Bacon thinks it belongs to a certain domain. It
becomes difficult for one to always stick to the truth while dealing with our day-to-day mundane routine
matters. In order to make his business and dealings smoother, he does mix some lies to them, which can
be regarded as practical necessity. Although, it is possible that he might succeed and emerge a winner,
however such conduct is vile and degrading. Bacon compares it with an alloy where a foreign element is
added in small quantities to a metal like gold and silver to give it more strength and toughness.
However, such alloying robs the silver or gold of its luster. It is like a snake that moves on its belly
always, and can never stand up erect and upright. This is why; eminent men like Montaigne declared the
falsehood as universally degrading and loathsome.

When analyzed deeply, he said, it means that a person who lies is afraid of ordinary mortals and has the
temerity to face God. He is a lowly soul bereft of any wisdom or intellectual heft. When the Day of the
Judgment arrives, a person who has lied all his life, cannot face God, and will be punished for his guilt. It
has been said that gradual erosion of moral values in the world will slowly drag the earth to a state
where ‘Faith’ ceases to exist.