The Dangers of Believing What You WANT to be True, Instead of What IS True!

What is the Truth? Is the Truth necessarily the same thing as the Facts?

"Truth" seems to have become a slippery slope, these days.

In fact, it seems to have become such a slippery slope that I try to avoid discussions of "truth" altogether, instead opting for sticking to facts.

But aren't those the same thing?

I suppose they can be, but not necessarily.

But let's say the thermometer on my back porch reads 66 degrees (that's about 19C, for the metric folks) and it's a nice sunny day. My friend James comes over to visit and declares that it's "still too cold" to sit outside. That's 100% true, from his perspective. Meanwhile, I can feel a small trickle of sweat running down my back I feel it is "too hot" to sit in the sun. That's 100% true, from my perspective. Assuming my thermometer is accurate, the only fact here is that it's 66 degrees.

The rest is opinion, no matter how convinced we may be that "it's the truth."

I expect there's nothing earthshattering or mysterious about what I just shared... and most people would look at it and think "Well, DUH!"

But let's move off from that simplistic example on my back porch, and instead consider these kinds of scenarios in the real world of politics, and maybe banking & finance, and definitely in religion. Oh, and parenting and religion. Let's not forget those!

Within those particular realms, it seems like almost nobody actually trades in facts, everybody trades in some version of "truth," as that truth serves as a conveyance to further any one individual's personal agenda.

Which leads us to the part of the slippery slope that's concerned with truth vs. perception/opinion.

Sometimes, I'm just left scratching my head over the whole thing... and more and more, I get the sense that the most important education you can have is not in finance, computing, history or the like, but in human psychology.

If you can truly understand not only how people are misappropriating "the truth" but why they are doing so, you have an improved chance of skating through life somewhat unscathed and perhaps with your own sense of equanimity reasonably intact.

How we ended up in a world where people find simple facts to be almost like a personal insult is a bit of a mystery to me, except for the uncomfortable possibility that we have somehow taught ourselves that life is supposed to have some sort of "easy button" in the sense that we "shouldn't" have to work hard for things, and we "shouldn't" have to deal with the reality of life if it feels uncomfortable, or doesn't serve our personal belief systems.

You might call it a sort of "stealth narcissism" in which we all get to be center of the universe, around which everything else revolves. And if the facts don't snap into line to match our belief system, then the facts become "evil" and must be denied and torn apart.

Here in the USA we often run into the so-called "Truther" movement, which I do my best to keep at arm's length because it strikes me as being little more than a way to represent strong opinions as something more than they actually are.

And a pox on anyone who doesn't agree with the "truth" that's "flavor of the day," at any given moment!

To be honest, it makes me worry for the future of humanity... regardless of whether or not I feel aligned with whatever opinion is being pushed.

I suppose I worry less for my own sake, than for the sake of our grandchildren and the world they will be living in, by the time they turn 50.

In the meantime, I will continue to navigate "the truth" as best I can!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your weekend!

How about you? What's your opinion about the whole "truth" vs. opinion issue? Have you ever been around someone who got offended by the FACTS? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2024.04.21 01:06 PDT
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