In a way, I’m an outsider. I’m really only interested in Truth. That’s really all I want to talk about, write about. And that could cut me off from a lot of people, because most people don’t really want truth. I mean, truth relates to other things, like sports and music and art, and parenting and love and relationships and communication and important stuff like that too, so it’s not a myopic topic. (Boom! I’m a rapper.) Actually, if I have a foundation of honesty with someone, we can talk about anything. But talking about the usual meaningless day-to-day stuff with someone where we don’t have some kind of foundation in truth is difficult for me.
That foundation can be simple honesty. The usual approach for humans (Western humans, at least) is to promote the part or parts of yourself that you want other people to see, so you can feel better about yourself, and to hide the parts you don’t want people to see. The more you do this, though, the more effort it takes and the more you obscure the real you. So the more hiding you do, the more worn out you are and the less connected you will be to other people (in any kind of meaningful way. And what we’re after here is something meaningful.)
Being authentically connected to others is important. After all, relationships are the most important thing in your life. (Oh yep, other than truth.) So you’re draining yourself of energy, authentic connection, and hence happiness when you do the usual thing of hiding and lying and faking. This one simple switch to being (more) honest opens new possibilities for you in your relationships and hence in your life.
There’s also something interesting about honesty. It has a certain energy, a certain power to it. When you were a child, telling a lie may have felt a bit uncomfortable, and there’s a reason for that: Life loves truth. And a child is closer to Life than adults are: it’s less programmed, it doesn’t think it knows things, it hasn’t formed a psychological identity yet, it doesn’t spend the day living in its thoughts and opinions, it’s more in the moment and in its senses. So because Life loves truth, telling a lie as a child felt uncomfortable.
Maybe the truth is: you cheated on your partner. You can live covering that up, hiding, lying, and living a life of betrayal. Many people do that. But, ultimately, it’s painful. And sooner or later, the pain of lying isn’t worth it anymore. You may not feel that pain much if you’re distracted by or prioritize other things, or if you’re in a lot of emotional pain and confusion. But it is painful nonetheless, and the wiser, truer, and more mature you become, the more you feel the pain of that lie.
But the point is, if you tell your partner the truth, the truth may not be well received. It’s not a panacea for the outcomes you want. But it changes the situation. It takes a weight off your shoulders, the weight of holding up lies which sap you of your life force. It also clears the air between the two of you. You now know where you both stand, authentically. You can now act in full knowledge. It is a cleaner, clearer situation. That also takes a weight of both your shoulders, actually.
Perhaps with that clarity, you will work it out together. Perhaps your partner will leave. You can’t control that. You can only control whether you tell the truth or not. It might be something worth experimenting with. It might change your life. And if telling the truth in a personal situation shifts the dynamic, what could telling the truth on a collective scale achieve?
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But, all that said, that’s not really what I mean when I say all I’m interested in is Truth. (What?!) Yes, having a passion for truth, honesty is certainly very important to me, and connected to that passion. You can’t have a passion for truth and not be honest. But what I mean by Truth is the truth about Life, about humans, about the human condition, about our situation and how we can make it better.
As it so happens, Truth is the only thing that can or will make life on Earth better. Have you noticed: we’ve tried everything else? We’ve tried various kinds of politics and economics, international groups, academia, STEM, education, social service, social media, charity, celebrities, Judge Judy, and much, much more. And things aren’t really changing, are they? (Don’t get me wrong, many of the contributions in those areas are of course wonderful and beautiful and things we can be very thankful for.)
But the changes are surface-level. We’re doing the same stuff, only slightly differently year after year. Wars are still breaking out. Destruction and exploitation is ongoing. We’re running faster and faster around the rat-wheel, technology driving acceleration in a worsening vicious circle, getting ever more confused and exhausted, not knowing why we’re doing it and rarely stopping for a moment to ask why.
Our technology, our progress, that seemed to hold so much promise, is a double-edged sword. Bizarrely, people tend to glorify science and ignore this reality. Industry brings environmental destruction; the internet brings servitude to technology and dangerous consolidation of power; social media brings lies, manipulation, confusion, and depression; data science brings AI, which might be the end of all of us.
As Chuck Palahniuk said in the Fight Club script: ‘…an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables, slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, no purpose or place. We have no great war, no great depression. Our great war is a spiritual war, our great depression is our lives. We've been all raised by television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars, but we won't and we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very pissed off.’
But deep down we all know being a millionaire or movie god or rock star isn’t the answer either. We all know many of them are miserable, drunk, suicidal, dead at 27, or just plain unhappy. Everywhere you look - stardom, riches, politics, science, whatever the supposed solution - none of them work. The only solution is Truth. Truth about life.
That means getting wiser. How does life works? Is there some point to it? Why are things so screwed up? It means being willing to look more deeply. It means asking the hard questions. It means being open minded, and having a good dose of humility, too. (Because if wisdom is beginning in you, you will be increasingly aware of how much you don’t know, no matter how educated you are. That’s why the great Socrates is supposed to have said that he knew nothing.)
Some people don’t want to get wiser. They may be living a fabulous life they love – why change it? Or they may be single parent with three young kids with no time for this shit. Or for some perhaps there’s something too good on TV. Or maybe they’re deeply religious and committed to their beliefs above all else. Or perhaps they don’t even have their basic needs met (about 47% of the world’s population). This isn’t for everyone.
But if you are part of the 53%, perhaps a young person trying to figure out what’s going on in this world, or any person that is a bit curious, who wants to ask questions, who is open-minded, then perhaps we have some common interests and purpose in our lives.
Einstein said: ‘the problems of the world can’t be solved on the same level of thinking that created them.’ The way to move to a new level of thinking is to challenge our current level of thinking, and everything it has brought us. I agree with Einstein. The only hope for humanity is that we get wiser, start to look more deeply, and become more intelligent. And also, even to rethink what intelligence is. After all, while it’s scientifically advanced to make atomic bombs, it’s surely not intelligent.
The good news is, Truth is a triple whammy. 1) Getting wiser is the only solution for the planet. 2) Putting truth first is probably the best way to bring more fulfilment and happiness to your personal life. And 3) digging deeply in this way can lead us to nothing less than the meaning or purpose of life itself. Not bad eh?
So that’s what I’m here for, that’s what I’m interested in, that’s what I care about: how to be happy, how to save the world, and the meaning of life. I’m sick of being a social outcast, and am looking to recruit about 3bn people to the cause. Please come back if you’re interested. Please share and spread the word. And please give me feedback so I can make this better and more helpful, and more entertaining, frankly. Does anyone know any good jokes?
