Truth demands sacrifices of us all. It may contradict our desires, our preferences, our conveniences, or our expectations, but until we embrace truth with absolute devotion it will demand that we sacrifice a part of ourselves in order to pursue it. Whether that sacrifice involves surrendering false notions, learning to yield to reality instead of preference, or adjusting our priories until they conform to reality, we may indeed need to sacrifice. One thing I have had to learn to sacrifice during this process is dependence on other people. At large, they will not join genuine seekers of truth, and may even oppose them. I, however, have no problem sacrificing relationships with humans that obstruct my pursuit of truth.
One who pursues knowledge of how things are and not how they seem--one who walks in the light of reason and not the darkness of error--will likely find before long that most people do not share such a priority and can even be quite hostile towards it. And, towards those who consistently, incorrigibly fail to share that priority even after being shown the futility and stupidity of their mindset, I have a deep indignance. I am not only able but willing to walk away from them and metaphorically abandon them to some degree. Oh, I still prefer for such people to reform their minds and embrace truth and reason. I want a fallacious mind to shed its erroneous ways far more than I want to have a target for my intellectual ferocity. I want to see irrationality and sin get exchanged for rationality and morals.
But I would sacrifice practically any human relationship for the sake of my own understanding of truth. There is a handful (a very small handful) of relationships I have that I would without hesitation do absolutely anything short of violating my Christian ethics or silencing my passion for rationalism and truth to preserve--but I would toss aside any other relationship that interferes with my quest for truth and knowledge. If any person becomes an obstacle to that quest (and nothing is even metaphysically capable of objectively mattering besides truth [1]) and if that person does not change when confronted with reason, then I would sever my ties with him or her as far as is possible or necessary to maintain the integrity of that quest. At that point, he or she has become an obstacle to the only quest that can prove meaningful in the end and thus, unfortunately, must be pushed aside to some degree for the quest to continue.
Most people do not seem to care for truth and reason that much--so much so that many of their affections for other humans pale in comparison and are seen as ontologically inferior. Many people do not appear to truly seek reality and reason above all else; they seem to seek gratification and intellectual procrastination in their place. I am walking on a pathway to truth with reason as my guide, and I will welcome any who I happen to encounter and invite them to join me. But if they interfere with that journey, I have no problem pushing them aside so that I can proceed as before. As far as I know, I have met very few who can honestly say the same about themselves.
[1]. If what is true has no meaning or significance, then nothing has intrinsic meaning. A subjective sense of fulfillment or joy does not mean something is meaningful; only objective truth can be meaningful.
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