Truth is a tendency.

"Truth is a tendency." — so declared R. Buckminster Fuller, the visionary thinker, architect, and designer who sought to understand the universe not merely in fragments but as a whole. His words sound at first like a paradox, but they hold a wisdom born of experience: that truth is not always a fixed object one can seize and hold, but a direction, a movement, a path toward greater clarity. Just as a compass points north even if one never reaches the pole, so truth is a tendency that guides us, even if we never possess it fully.

Fuller lived in an age of scientific breakthroughs and technological revolutions, yet he knew that no formula, no doctrine, no theory could claim final and absolute truth. The universe itself was too vast, too dynamic, too mysterious. Truth, to him, was less a permanent possession and more an orientation — like the bending of a plant toward the sun. Humanity, through learning and living, bends toward truth, correcting itself, refining itself, always approaching, never fully arriving. Thus he said: truth is a tendency.

Consider the story of Galileo Galilei, who turned his telescope toward the heavens. He believed he had found truth in the orbits of planets, and indeed he had, yet his truth was not final. Later, Newton refined it with laws of gravity; later still, Einstein expanded it with relativity. None of them were wrong; each bent closer to the light. Here we see Fuller’s wisdom alive: truth is not a stone, but a path. Each discovery is a step along the way, a tendency toward the greater whole.

This teaching also applies to human life and justice. The struggle for freedom, equality, and dignity has never been a single triumph, but a series of tendencies. The abolition of slavery did not end oppression, but it bent humanity toward justice. The Civil Rights Movement did not erase prejudice, but it continued the tendency toward freedom. Every generation, by its choices, adds to this bending of history. Fuller reminds us that truth in human affairs, like truth in science, is a movement, not a monument.

From this we learn humility. To declare that one holds the final truth is arrogance; to recognize that one’s understanding is part of a tendency is wisdom. It frees us from the burden of perfection and allows us to live as seekers, not as tyrants of certainty. We can honor the truths of the past while still pressing forward, knowing that even greater clarity awaits. Thus truth becomes not a cage that imprisons the mind, but a horizon that draws it onward.

What, then, is the lesson for us? It is this: orient your life toward truth, even if you cannot fully grasp it. Live not as one who possesses truth, but as one who tends toward it — in thought, in speech, in action. When you err, correct yourself; when you learn, refine your vision; when you encounter another’s truth, listen, for it may bend you closer to the whole. This is how humanity advances, step by step, tendency by tendency.

Practical action lies before you. Do not despair when answers are incomplete, nor grow arrogant when you believe you are right. Instead, cultivate the habit of truth-seeking. Question boldly, test patiently, admit mistakes, and adjust course. Like a sailor following the stars, let the tendency toward truth guide your voyage, even if the destination lies beyond sight.

Thus, Buckminster Fuller’s words shine across time: truth is a tendency. It is not the possession of one man, nor the triumph of one age, but the endless turning of all life toward light. Let us walk in that direction, humbly, steadily, faithfully — for though we may never grasp the whole, we shall live in harmony with its pull, and that harmony itself is wisdom.