Harry: "I WANT THE TRUTH!" (Was: Seeking the truth )--LONG

[lealess]

No: HPFGUIDX 177779

Thank you, Siriusly Snapey Susan, for the extensive work you did
finding quotes regarding your interesting question about Harry's
desire to know the truth and his being a Seeker.  I am approaching an
answer, which is sketchy, unfortunately.  It builds on an earlier post
I made about the message of HP really being about faith.  I also have
to recommend prep0strus' remarks in his response to you in post
177766, about the nature of God and people's ability to know God's plan.

I think much of DH was Potter's 40 days in the wilderness, and the
Hallows were his test, the temptations set before him.  Because he
chose at a crucial moment to deny the quest for the Hallows and pursue
Dumbledore's plan to destroy Horcruxes, he showed himself to be the
Chosen One, the one who ironically does not need to prove his power,
but merely has to accept self-sacrifice to save mankind.  Because he
is the Chosen One, his ability to know the Good is innate.  Seeking (a
manifestation of ambition) only provides distraction and temptation.

A counter-example is Snape, who seems always to have sought knowledge
and, to some degree, the power knowledge brings.  When it comes to
Harry, Snape always tells the truth as far as he knows it, but this
truth cannot help Harry, and in fact, Harry almost always rejects it.
It is the truth that Harry comes by through instinct, through his
essential goodness, that helps Harry.  That truth leads him to faith
in Dumbledore's plan.

Both Harry and Snape struggled with faith.  Both wanted to know the
answers, wanted to be told the secrets, felt they deserved this.  Both
had to endure isolation from Dumbledore (and Snape, emotional abuse)
and the vilification of others. The difference is that Snape had to
set up an emblem of goodness in Lily to find goodness in himself.  I
imagine JKR felt he deserved this for his ambition.  Harry, on the
other hand, had the truth within him all along, and it was supposed to
be a greater love.

Trust is also a key to the story. Trust is faith. Did Dumbledore have
faith in his followers, enough to give them the truth, to give them
the tools they would need to defeat Voldemort?  I think Dumbledore
expected his followers, especially Harry, to find the truth within
themselves, to just *know* it, to reject the path of intellect and
ambitious effort and follow the simpler path of faith and following
the word of God (or Dumbledore, in this case).  In the end, a Seeker
can only rely on instinct to follow the movements of the Snitch.

Anyway, this is the way I see the message of the HP stories.  I won't
include my personal perspective on it.

lealess