Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 3
INTRODUCTION WITH. A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE. T. HE STUDY of the history of religious and secular thought reveals that throughout the ages great philosophers, sages and religious leaders held different views about the comparative values of reason, logic and revelation. As such, they can be divided into various groups. . There are those who emphasize the role of rationality to a degree that they consider it as the only valid means of discovering truth. For them, the only conclusion worthy of acceptance is the one which can be derived through dialectical logical reasoning based on observed facts. . Hence, they believe that truth (in whatever form they define it) can only be reached through the faculty of reasoning. . There are thinkers who believe in the phenomenon of. Divine guidance which, according to them, plays a definite role in enlightning the human mind, providing it with answers to many unresolved questions. . Again there are those who believe that truth can be reached entirely through inner experiences referred to as 'inspiration'. They consider it to be attainable through a deep search within oneself, as if its blueprint had been imprinted upon every human soul. They delve deep within themselves, and through an introspective study attain a fundamental understanding of nature and how it works. . Another mode of reaching truth shared both by the religious and secular schools of enquiry is mysticism. . Mystification of life seems to be a common tendency shared by believers and non-believers alike. Mystics may belong to all the categories mentioned above and their 3