Truth: Recognize It Lest We Be Damned…
“Do you solemnly swear that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” And so begins the drama of a courtroom as a witness is about to testify, and so it should. After all, what is a court case, except a sliver of a person’s life on trial?
But the truth isn’t something we only hold for the courtroom. It’s that quality, that if unrecognized, has ways of ganging up on us when we least expect it. In other words: we must recognize it lest we be damned.
The truth is much more than not telling a lie; it’s also recognizing a lie when told. Dire consequences await the person who naively looks the other way, wanting to believe, but knowing too well that what lay before may not be an accurate perception of reality (see Perception is Reality: Really?).
Whether believing a partner never cheats, a banker never steals, or a politician never lies, life is full of examples where things aren’t what they seem to be. We needn’t go through life apprehensive, but a healthy dose of skepticism is not necessarily a bad thing to harbor. It flushes out the truth when it’s the last thing we care to see.
Nonetheless, deceit is a daily occurrence in the lives of many. Sometimes it’s easier to accept than to face the truth, or so the victim believes. Facing the truth can bring quick and sudden change, which can be a scary proposition at best. Worlds turn over bringing loss of perspective and proportion. What was once clear (even if it was a fraud), is now a blur, which begs the question: better to live a clear fraud or endure a blurry truth?
The answer is simple: there is no substitute for the truth. As with cream, it always rises to the top. It may not happen today; it may not happen tomorrow, and it may not happen the day after tomorrow, but rest assured, at some time, at some place, it will inevitably rise to the occasion. It will shed light on the darkest corners, expose the foulest lies, and breathe the freshest air. With overwhelming odds, it breaks through the cement of duplicity that only lies can pour.
As religious sage Gautama Buddha (563 BC – 483 BC) said centuries ago, “Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”
The truth is to be sought, is to be found, and is to be valued. It’s never to be taken for granted and it’s never to be underestimated. We may not always adore it, but we must always respect it. There is no other way, unless we deem a life of fraud and trickery a life worth living – hardly an alternative…
For more, check out The C.A.T. Principle: Change, Action, Trust – Words to Live By, a Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of 2014, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. See the latest Amazon reviews here. Now revised and expanded, and a Nominee for the Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of the 2016 Global Ebook Awards.
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A 2014 Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook.
A 2015 & 2016 Global Ebook Awards Nominee for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook
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