The Second Truth: A Brief Introduction to the Intellectual and Spiritual Journey that is Philosophy

WE ARE BORN into families, language communities, and cultures that provide us with an initial understanding (first truth) through which to interpret our experience. Civilization advances, however, because certain authentic individuals like Copernicus, Socrates, and Jesus pursued a better way (second truth) to conceptualize and interpret their experience. Eventually, we inherit filtered versions of their second truth as part of our initial understanding, but such an understanding originated out of a specific form of thinking known as philosophy.

“If the human race to survive, it must learn different ways of thinking. James Danaher's wonderfully accessible book introduces readers of every age and education to a modality of thought which was the heart of Socrates' thinking, but which, over time, has been lost or ignored.” —Maggie Ross, author of Writing the Icon of the Heart: In Silence Beholding, and Silence: A User's Guide.

“This is a clear, compelling, and important book. It says from a philosophical perspective what spiritual teachers have recognized throughout the ages. Our first truth is largely self-referential and a result of childhood conditioning—even by otherwise seemingly ‘educated’ people. Information is not the same as transformation! Read and be transformed by a ‘second truth’!”—Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M., Center for Action and Contemplation, Albuquerque, New Mexico.