Wow Walt, this was thrilling to read! This is such a clear, concise, incisive, articulate framing of the question of truth! Centering the question on "what is Nature?" works beautifully to bring all the issues together, by separating the particulars from the whole.

While you didn’t say so explicitly, it seems fair to construe, as a conclusion of yours, that the explanation and understanding of Nature will contain an explanation and understanding of ourselves, our consciousness, “our mental nature” in your quote of Emerson. And I agree science will be involved in the answer.

That said, I believe, as you say, that the Truth of Nature “is something the human mind cannot grasp,” that “we all may be out of our depth here,” and yet “we may be able to approximate What-Is.”

Some of my Medium pieces and profile mention my working on a piece about “truth units.” Its purpose is to advance our ability, especially in our Age of Misinformation, to “approximate What-Is.” Since I rarely publish on Medium, I’d be honored and gratified by your following me, so “Truth Units” comes to your attention when it’s published, and I can get your critique.

Your metaphor of triangulation is great—especially with you being a serious fan of wildness and backcountry excursions. In my years of the same, I’ve usually been the navigator in the group, so your metaphor was evocative. Thank you for writing this piece!