Truth, Lies and Solutions

I am obsessed with truth.

The fact that I put that much value into it has various reasons.

• every truth I tell can't come back to haunt me if I forget about the fact that I told it
  
• every truth I tell might not be beneficial to me, but it will be beneficial (if difficult to accept) to others if they take it for what it is
  
• every truth I tell reinforces my memory of facts, while every lie I tell demands that I remember both fact and lie
  
• every truth I tell that is difficult to accept requires polite phrasing (truth be told, I've been going soft on that guideline for a while now) and thus challenges my language skills
  
• every truth I tell increases (if ever so slightly) the chances I will henceforth receive truth from the person I'm talking to
  

while

• every truth I'm told increases not my ego, but my knowledge
  
• every truth I'm told might make me realize uncomfortable facts (about myself, the world, the things or people I like) but without realizing them, wouldn't they be there anyway? Realizing ugly truths is the only way to do something about them.
  
• every truth I'm told I can pass on
  

I realize that many people are afraid of truth.

Many of them simply forget to consider that truth remains true whether they know about it or not. Put otherwise, if you choose to ignore something true, you can stay comfortable, but that doesn't make whatever you choose to believe instead true! For example, over the last 10 years a life after death (previously thought impossible to disprove) has been discovered to be extremely unlikely. That is scary. But now you know that, you can do something about it! What does it mean for you? You know there is no life after death, while others believe that one exists. You have the advantage! (Though not necessarily the obligation to destroy anyone's dreams about the afterlife ;)) What would that mean for humanity if that fact could be widely promoted? Less hope? Not likely - many people who don't believe in an afterlife have a lot of hope. Less suicide bombers? Probably a few, though suicide bombers rationalize their suicide with religion, they don't commit suicide because of it. Less irrational decision shortly before death? Maybe. Fairer inheritance laws? Oh yes!

But the most important thing is, what does it mean for you? Truth is truth. You can do something about a situation (well, most of them) - but only if you choose to see it, to accept it beyond the initial discomfort, to the point where you see the problem in it's whole ugliness. Then you can act on it.

Truth is important.