Let me make you a promise. I promise that, by the end of this article, you will be able to find the truth.

"The truth of what?" you may ask. The truth of everything you ever wanted to know. Why we exist, what to do now that we're here, and what exactly truth is.

However, you must meet these following conditions: you must read this article, and understand it- do not skim it! Write any of your objections down on a sheet of paper and save them until you have read and understand the whole article.

Do not read this article piecemeal- read it all in one sitting without distraction. This article will take some thought, and will likely make you uncomfortable because it may go against everything you were ever taught. Even as I sit here writing it, I am haunted by just how honest this piece is. I am going to be brutally transparent with you.

Please read the entire article if you do choose to read it, as you will need all the information to understand exactly what I am trying to communicate. If you do not wish to proceed, now is the time to exit.

If you are reading this, I assume that you are ready to read the article. So without further adieu, let me layout before you the path to finding the truth.

There were 100 citizens of a fascist dictatorship that were selected at random to participate in an experiment. These people were stripped of all their belongings, leaving them only the clothes on their backs. They all stood, huddled shoulder-to-shoulder in a holding room. A voice over the intercom broke the silence, detailing the the situation.

"In a moment here," the voice started, "you will all file into a dark room, where your sight will be rendered useless. In this room is a black cat. You will all have 15 minutes to find the black cat before the lights come on. Once the lights turn on, if you are not holding the black cat, or standing in a group surrounding the person holding the black cat, you will die. Now, the holding room lights will be dimmed, and the door to the dark room will be opened."

There was a loud whoosh of compressed air as the lights faded, and the dim silhouette of a door swung into a conjoining room. Everyone placed their hands on each others' shoulders, and walked single-file into the dark room.

Once everyone entered the experimental setting, the voice broke over the intercom once more, "Your fifteen minutes begins now."

People suddenly began to walk in all directions, sweeping their arms in large, semi-circular motions above the floor. Some people whistled and said, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty!"

After about three minutes, somebody from a corner of the room shouted, "I've found the Black Cat! I've found It! I've found It!"

Everyone stumbled towards the voice, reaching out and demanding to feel the creature. As people extended their hands, they could feel the soft fur, and hear the dull purr that could only belong to that most elusive of night-dwellers. The animal even had the shape of a cat, based upon how the blind participants felt her.

Everyone began to relax, now having nothing to fear. Then, things started to become interesting. A person standing on the outskirts of the large group felt something brush up against his leg. He reached down and felt the unmistakable, moving frame of a feline skeleton wrapped in flesh and fur. He snatched up the animal, and held it to himself, feeling the claws dig into his chest.

"Everyone! Listen up! I have the cat here, she must have escaped." The room fell silent.

The first person responded back, "No, I have the animal right here," which was then confirmed by several verbal assurances from other people standing around the first finder.

"I believe you are mistaken," continued the second, "for I really do have a cat here in my arms."

"Mistaken? My good sir, do you mean to call me a liar? I have the animal here at my bosom. Why would I lie about such things?"

"For what reason do I have to lie?" responded the second finder. The silence returned, and another person standing next to the second reached out in the blackness. He gasps when he feels the soft fur run between his fingers.

"It's true! The second man does have the cat!"

People immediately began to crowd in the audible direction of the second man. After a few minutes, the debate escalated, resulting in a split of the group. Half of the people joined the second finder, while the other half remained with the first. Nobody dared touch both animals, if both animals indeed existed, for they feared their time might be close to up, and the lights would come on, exposing them with the wrong cat, or worse, in between both groups- a sure death sentence.

After a few minutes more, the noise level receded, but tension built up in the room with the knowledge that at least half of the people were to die. But, which half? The thick stillness of the pitch-black room was again interrupted by a small noise. People on the outside of both groups strained to hear, and their hearts sank when they realized that it is the mewing of a cat. They shot up and rushed towards the sound. Something long and odd brushed over the shoulder of a few people as they lurch towards the third sound. Upon collecting and confirming that the creature was feline in nature, the small third group quietly resolved to not tell anyone from either of the two larger groups about their discovery, not wanting to create another fiasco as before. After all, they had already taken a large enough risk leaving their groups this late into the experiment.

All finally grew quiet, then the white lights switched on, instantly blinding every participant. The three people holding the cats squeezed the animals tightly to themselves to prevent them from eloping. As everyones' eyes adjusted to the brightness, they made a horrible discovery.

The first cat found was brown, with tiny tiger stripes along its back. The second was orange, and on the heavier side. And the third was white, with patches of blond hairs across its canvas-like physique. But, the worst discovery of all was a single rope hanging in the middle of the habitation, which led up through a round hole in the ceiling to another level of the room.

The voice came on over the loudspeaker, "I am sorry to inform all of you that you have all failed the task. You will be led out of the chamber to holding cells where you will wait for your impending executions."

The mass began to protest, "Where's the Black Cat?!? You didn't tell us about the rope, and the second floor!" As if in response, a little black head of a cat poked out from the hole in the ceiling, mewing, as if mocking the participants.

"Oh," responded the voice over the intercom, "but we didn't have to tell you about the rope. Nor did we have to inform you about the second level. Just as we didn't need to inform you that their were multiple cats on your level alone. Oh no, that would have ruined the integrity of the test."

So exactly what is going on in this story? Well, it mainly serves as an allegory for the human existence. The black cat represents truth. The people stumbling around in the darkness represent all of mankind searching for the truth. All the other cats represent basic tenants of different religions and philosophies that people gather around and hold to be true.

At the end of the experiment, none of the participants completed the objective, which was to find the black cat. But, they failed this task because they went about solving the problem in the wrong way. Everyone blindly searched the floor for the black cat, and they were content enough when they found any cat that could possibly be it. They never bothered to figure out if it was indeed the black cat or not because they just assumed it was- after all, it felt and sounded like a cat. Once the other cats were discovered it caused tension because nobody was sure who actually had the black cat.

The reason the participants did not find the black cat was because they had little knowledge of their surroundings. Had they known that there was a dangling rope in the middle of the room that led to a second level, more people would have likely searched that part of the dark room. This is representative of mankind's blind eye to the discourse he lives in. Discourse is the verbal and written form of the political/religious/etc. ideologies of the day.

Assume that a fish has never been out of the water, how would it know it's in water? Only when it is pulled out of the water can a fish begin to understand what water is, because it knows its antithesis. The same principle applies in other areas: can you know light if you don't know dark, and can you know cold if you don't know warmth? The light flipping on in the room shows the participants the "water they have been swimming in" this whole time. Had they known the nature of their surroundings beforehand, they would have stood a much better chance of surviving.

This story also tells us something interesting about faith. Contrary to what some people believe, faith is not an assurance of what is hoped for, nor a certainty of what is not seen. Faith is believing something to be true even though there is absolutely no way to actually prove your claim. This is why the groups surrounded different cats. None of them could prove that their cat was the black cat, but they had faith that their cat was the one they had been searching for. So, why join a group? Remember, if the lights come on, and you're not with any group, you die. So, simple probability would dictate that it is better to join one of the groups, because you then at least have a slightly better chance at surviving, rather than no chance at all. Insert Pascal's Wager here.

But, let's re-examine the situation. The first step to finding the black cat is to be familiar with your surroundings. None of the participants were aware of the rope or the second level. Had they known the environment they were in, at least a few people would have actually found the black cat, and survived.

So, the experiment was designed to test how people relate to their surroundings when they are unaware of them. The cat was just a tool used to get the participants moving around.

Now, let me move onto the shortfalls of this allegory.

Number one, the room is much too small. The real dark room that we as a species are figuratively stumbling around in is massive. It has multiple levels, an endless number of nooks and crannies, cliffs, ladders, ropes and any other obstacle you can imagine. This makes it all the more imperative that we are familiar with our surroundings, that being the universe we live in, and the cultural paradigms that govern our lives.

Number two, there is more than fifteen minutes on the clock. You will get a wide range of answers when you ask different people how long humanity has to live, and their reasoning for this will usually come from whatever figurative cat they bow to. Whatever their cat group says is what they are likely to believe. But, there is always time to turn things around.

Number three, some cats are partially black. There is rarely a single-colored cat, and one of the more dominant colors shown in cats is black. This would signify that many cats have some black in them, meaning that many religions and philosophies have some truth to them, and are not completely bogus, as some people would have you believe.

Number four, a group could stumble upon the black cat purely by chance. But, even if a cat group did find the black cat, there would be no way for them to actually know they have it until the lights come on. And again, they'd stumble on it by chance.

And number five, this allegory does not factor in human ingenuity. The human mind is an incredible thing. Our knowledge constantly expands our understanding of the universe we live in. This is why things like science and anthropology exist. We seek to study the world we live in without bringing our preconceived cat-notions into the equation. Those who use study methods like science in an attempt to prove that their cat is the black cat are misusing the field.

Science is meant to help us understand what can be objectively known- about the natural world no less. Again, nothing you do can matter-of-factly prove that you surround the black cat, besides a light. You can reason your way to believing you have the black cat, but again, so can others who surround different felines- so really that doesn't make anyone special. Unfortunately, many people believe they are holding up a light to their cat, when really all they're doing is raising it up Lion King style in the darkness and shouting, "I've found It! Come to meeee pleeeeaaasssee!"

Now, the purpose of this article is not to bash on religion or philosophy, quite the contrary. In fact, it is possible to hold your beliefs while still getting along with others around you who do not share those beliefs. The point is that you can have very strong faith in whatever you want to believe, but at the end of the day, you still cannot prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that your cat is the black cat. We could all benefit by ceasing to act so arrogantly in our beliefs.

Different religions and philosophies have their own way of answering the same questions, but they all use the same reasoning pattern to solve these problems. Believe what you will, but understand why someone may not hold your beliefs, and don't think them stupid for not doing so. If your beliefs help make you a better person, then, by all means, believe! And it's also okay to be unsure. We act like doubt is the polar opposite of faith, but they actually compliment each other- but that's an article for another day.

So that's it. Satisfied? Probably not, but I never promised that you'd know the truth by the end of this article, only that you'd be able to find it. I can't tell you what the truth is because I honestly do not know what it is. I could tell you what different religions and philosophies say truth is, but in the end I cannot 100% guarantee you the truth from anything you choose to believe. What we can do, though, is not only choose to believe what fits our lives best, but also understand that other people choose other cats for different reasons, and that's okay. Once we understand the water we've been swimming in this whole time, it will be easier for us to get along as a species. If we can respect each other as human beings, each and every person being as complex as ourselves, then we can begin to find truth together.