When two or more people share the same opinion about data, we have a fact - at least for those sharing the opinion. (Many consider singular, subjective experiences to be facts, as well.)
All facts are opinions, but all opinions are not facts. Say, for example, you and your friend are driving through the mountains at dusk. Up ahead, you see a big man wearing a thick winter coat. As you get closer, however, you realize that it is a bear, not a man.
The most important aspect of facts, though, is that they are always relative. Here are several reasons.
First, linear minds formulate facts. Minds use language - strings of symbols - to think. This distances facts from reality by at least one level, because symbols are pictures of reality.We also can mistake symbols for facts. For instance, many believe "governments" exist. They exist, however, only in our minds. What we call a government is no more than people with titles, usually working or living) in large buildings - it's only people. The same applies to all churches, institutions, agencies, bureaus, and orders.
Second, facts are relative to temporal, spatial, species, size, distance, and dimensional considerations. Here are some examples:
Temporal: Today, we look at what we call a chair. We nod and mumble, "This is a chair." Last year, though, the chair was a tree. One year from now, maybe it will have transformed into ashes. (Moral: Most facts change over time.)
Spatial: My friend in Hollywood, Florida is looking up into the sky. From an Australian perspective, however, she's looking down into the sky. (Some facts change according to the position of the viewer.)
Species: To a human, mosquitoes are pests or parasites. To some birds though, they're lunch. (Many facts change according to what we are.)
Size: The "laws" of Newtonian physics don't apply to sub-atomic particles. (Size can determine reality parameters .)
Distance: The ancients believed that the stars were little pin pricks in the filament through which the light was shining. We know stars to be a zillion times bigger than ourselves, though they look small.
Dimension: In the third dimension, we can't travel faster than the speed of light. On the fifth dimension, we can. (Each dimension has its own reality base.)
Third, if we are to understand the Big Picture, we need more than our six senses to gather the information; there's a universe of data out there. Our vehicles (the mental, emotional, and physical bodies) filter more information than they allow in. For instance, our eyes can only perceive visible light - a small slice of the electro-magnetic spectrum. We can only hear a limited range of sound. To help collect more data, we have built instruments that extend the reach of our senses (like radio telescopes).
Yet, we must interpret data linearly. If we only needed to analyze data to reveal the Big Picture, then the world wouldn't be suffering so much. We live, however, in a non-linear universe that can behave linearly. Our minds can't fathom it, even if they had access to all data.
Fourth, each of our perceptual lenses - our emotional, mental, physical, astral, and spiritual bodies - has its own biases about reality. For instance, the physical body might find a certain relationship enjoyable. The emotional body may label the same relationship uncomfortable. What's true for one lens may be false for another.
Fifth, memory colors how we interpret data. Say, for example, your mother would slap you every time you asked for ice cream. This happened during the first twenty years of your life. As an adult, you'd find it difficult to deal objectively with that tasty treat. We can extend this concept of memory to include racial and specie memory, as well.
Lastly, our archetypal, cultural, educational, and religious backgrounds influence how we determine fact. Examples:
Archetypal: The Gemini archetype uses the mental-body filter to interpret data, while the Cancerian prefers the emotional.
Cultural: Some cultures believe that war-like behavior is commendable, other cultures suppress it.
Educational: A scientist might believe that a chair is mostly space, shaped by whizzing probability waves.
Religious: Some religions teach that the same chair doesn't exist at all.
