Truth and Lies

“Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.”

                                                                        -Ralf Waldo Emerson

“The first reaction to truth is hatred.”

                                                                        -Tertullian

“Lies that build are better than truth that destroys.”

                                                                        -Sengulese Proverb

“I’m not mad that you lied to me, I’m mad that I can never again believe you.”

                                                                        -Nietzsche

I know it’s a lot of quotes about the relationship between truth and lies, but I couldn’t really limit myself to one or two because it’s a concept that has come up countless times.  As human beings we have this innate desire to find “the truth” because, in my eyes, it’s something sturdy that we can hold onto in the world.  I think that is why many people would prefer to hear the truth over a lie.  As the first quote goes, lies also have the potential to be beautiful, but only when the person never discovers it to be a lie. The problem with this however is that the longer the lie remains concealed, the more devastated the individual will probably be if it is revealed.

I contemplated what it would be like if we could only blurt out the truth and coincidentally House just happened to have a patient suffering from a condition that had him do precisely that… an eerie coincidence, but I’ll take it!

Thank you television.

So it tackled a lot of really interesting concepts about the condition really quickly. On the one hand his lack of filter caused him to insult a few of the doctors, but his brutally honest (if not rash) comments flattered some of the female staff. They even talked about whether the fact that he always had these comments, but just never said them, changed who he was now that they weren’t filtered. The episode got really touchy though when he called his young daughter “below average” and that his wife’s career was “for people who can’t accomplish important things themselves” (the look in his eyes as he tried to hold himself back was heart-wrenching). He participated in an extremely risky surgery to remove himself of this condition. For him the choice was easy.

Now it was just one man, but if we analyze it from a human perspective, it becomes scary how hurtful little comments we hold back from the people close to us can cause a ridiculous amount of pain. The man was cured and his daughter will likely forgive him some day, but what he said to his wife… he can never take that back, despite how much he loves her.

Then for some reason I got this weird concept in my head, is something that goes unsaid as bad as a lie? Pondering out loud, I got a pretty impressive response, with one of my peers saying that if we said everything on our minds all the time things would just be ridiculous, but holding back something that you believe needs to be said is just as bad as lying. I really like that differentiation.

Can I honestly say that lying is always bad? No, because you can likely throw out certain scenarios where a “white lie” is actually more beneficial (a surprise party for instance!). Personally I would prefer to be told the truth all the time and do my best to do the same for my friends. If we are honest as much as possible maybe we could prevent a situation like that man was in. Am I perfect? Far from it. I can understand how a lie can have good consequences, but compliments and musings don’t have to be lies. In fact, I think a truth that makes you feel good is one of the best feelings in the world. Both receiving and delivering it. Yes, the truth may be difficult to swallow at times, and even met with frustration, but it is in essence beautiful because the truth is the simplest idea there is. It’s not sugar coated or pretending to be something it’s not. It is origin. It just is.  

Never stop questioning.