A father
once told his son that society, as experienced today, is all smoke and
mirrors. That deception is everywhere,
what is seen is not what is real, and not many care to stand outside the circle
of smoke and mirrors to see the truth.
This father’s instruction was so that the son may not commit to believe in
anything he cannot himself prove true.
Harboring such a cynical notion may perhaps be too extreme for most, yet
it provides a potentially useful lesson.
That lesson is awareness.
Awareness that truth may not be what is considered true, and reality may
in fact be fantasy.
A man must
know what truth itself really is.
Consider the happenings of what is within earshot at this time. If one was to recite what just happened (or
didn’t happen) at a later time, the truth of what happened (or didn’t happen)
would be known by the person(s) present.
If by telling of what happened to another person (who was not present in
the past moment) would result in a statement that was anything but what
occurred exactly, then truth was not conveyed in its fullest sense. Truth, as many know, is what is real in its simplest sense. Of course man's perceptions of the natural world may present different natures regarding truth, the simplest sense of truth must first be observed.
The loss of truth happens when a
person believes something happened that did not, or that something is that is
not. This can happen through deceptive
conversation (consider various forms of conversation), or this can happen
through misinterpretation. The former is
the main issue a man must face, the latter can be both innocent, despite the
fault in interpreting a fact, or deliberately deceptive. A man who utilizes deception in conversation
or interpretation can never be an ideal man.
This is because an ideal man realizes deception as a means of corrupting
what is real, and the truth of that reality promotes the proper growth of
humanity. Therefore, promoting deceptive
methods eventually leads to the benefit of no one in the long run.
It can be said that certain types
of deception can be arguably beneficial in some fashion. This may prove correct in extraordinary
circumstances. However, the mere act of
deception cannot promote any long-term benefits to the larger population. Misinformation demotes true progress and the
lack of true progress promotes a lack of true achievement, and subsequently a
lack of widespread happiness. If a man
would find himself in a situation where deceptive acts would prove beneficial,
it would be best for that man to remain silent and mute. The eventual negative backlash of deceptive
acts will outweigh the immediate positive benefits had by it every time.
The proper method for avoiding
being deceived is to listen to everything, yet admit only factual truths
provided by reliable evidence. If a
statement is not validated by evidence deemed reliable, it can hardly be
accepted as true. This may end up
leaving a man with an incomplete picture of what is true. But an ideal man would rather hold an
incomplete picture based on truth than a complete picture harboring
falsehood. An ideal man knows his
actions must benefit humanity to remain in his ideal state. Therefore he accepts only truth, and resists
both being deceived and committing deception in every way.
Concluding
Thoughts
This topic could be argued further,
and perhaps more will be added later.
However the same premise will always remain the same for a man wanting
to become more ideal. The imperfections
of the human mind, the pliable nature of weak faculties, may make the goals
towards reaching this ideal very difficult to attain. Nevertheless, a man must attempt to reach
this goal, if this goal is really what a man desires, to reach a more ideal
version of manhood. Truth can help get men
where they want to go if they use it. Truth
regarding limitations, and truth regarding what is possible. Truth is man’s ally in all things. It must be known.
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