While watching NBC’s Thursday night sitcom lineup last week, I almost missed a rare nugget of wisdom spoken by Joel McHale’s character on “Community.” “The biggest truths aren’t original,” he said. “Truth is ketchup. It’s Jim Belushi. Its job isn’t to blow our minds; it’s to be within reach.”
Indeed, it often seems that today’s search for truth — be it in the world of philosophy, science, academia or even religion — focuses far too much on discovering something new and unique, rather than delving more deeply into time-tested principles.
Political and social analysis is too often reduced to crafting creative, eye-catching theories, whether or not they are based in reality. Same with much of academia.
And while there is, of course, much to learn in the various fields of science, too many gifted minds are committed to drugstore psychology and scientific hackery simply for the sake of making a small splash in their discipline.
But what worries me more than anything is the search for brand new, mind-blowing religious truths.
