Truth sets him free free from the torturing doubt that paralyses, free to develop his whole personality and reach out to his destiny. But, apart from a few fundamental axioms which the human mind perceives almost instinctively, man does not possess truth within himself. Nor does he communicate directly with it. On the contrary, truth is mediated to him by others.
Man is fundamentally a being who is taught.
These observations are pre-eminently valid in the sphere of religious truth that sphere which considers the great basic problems that vex the human mind and heart. Authority contradicts authority, philosophy rebuts philosophy, disciples refute masters until, in the end, it would seem that mankind is made the unhappy sport of human opinion. Even in this sphere, then, man labours under the moral necessity to be taught by God. First Vatican Council, Sess. 3, ch. It is not a strange and incomprehensible privilege.