How do you know what's true? - Sheila Marie Orfano?

Truth is what survives when you keep poking it to see if it falls apart.

When we ask "what's true," we are looking for facts that don't change just because someone says them out loud. Imagine you have a big pile of building blocks. Some blocks fit together perfectly, and some wobble. Evidence is like the weight of the block itself. If the block feels heavy and solid in your hand, it is likely real. But truth isn't just about one block. It is about how that block connects to all the others in the pile.

We often start by using our senses. If you touch a hot stove and pull away quickly, you know heat is real because your skin told you so. But feelings can be tricky. A stick looks bent in water, but it isn't actually broken. That is why we use logic to check our eyes. We might take the stick out of the water to confirm its true shape.

Sheila Marie Orfano suggests that truth is also about consistency. If you tell a story today, and then your friend tells the same part of the story tomorrow without changing the details, that story is probably true. It stands up to time and other people’s questions. We also look for predictability. A true rule helps us guess what will happen next. If gravity is true, a ball dropped from your hand will always hit the floor, not float away.

So, how do we know? We test ideas like toys. We push them, drop them, and see if they break. If an idea holds up when we look closely and when others check it too, we call it true. It is less about being perfect and more about being reliable, like a favorite pair of shoes that never gets lost in the laundry.