Half a Truth
I'm having to face the reality of reality. I think we all know it exists on many levels, even those who try their entire lives to wrap their minds around relativism probably know that there is an element of absolute that can never really be resolved with a philosophy of "what's good for you....." World religions embrace versions and adaptations of truth often to fit a cultural pattern or political structure and many individuals would say that "truth" is one essential element to making a lifelong, trusting relationship work. It's there. We all know it and feel it. Truth at our core, is undeniable.
I want to be truthful to those around me in general. But in some sense, I don't have the obligation to be truthful to EVERYBODY about my life because really, there are not enough hours in the day. Likewise, I wouldn't expect the whole truth from most people either because I can respect that some elements of truth in our lives are private, protected, and should remain that way. A lot of times we cant necessarily be obligated to truth because we might not really have a conscience grasp of what the whole truth is. For example, I tell people in truth, that I will be leaving for Thailand in May. It's only a partial truth however, that I'm planning on leaving in May because really, I just don't know. The reasons I'm not sure yet, take far too long to clarify and frankly, I don't think I owe it to anybody to go into any further explanation. May just seems like a good estimate, even though it's only founded on something partially honest.
In my estimation there are 3 main reasons people consciously withhold truth:
1. We don't want others to know something about us because it's embarrassing, boring, or just doesn't seem to have much weight on the tangible, worthwhile part of the relationship.
2. We want to be valued for something other than what we value ourselves to be.
3. We want to manipulate and remain in control of a relationship. If we tell others the truth about ourselves, then it is up to them to make up their minds about us. If we feed them what we want (whether it is partially true, or an outright lie) then we still hold some sense of control over how we are perceived.
So how responsible are we exactly, to deliver the truth about ourselves? And what responsibility do we have to others to call them out on their partial truths? What about when those partial truths are hurting those around us?
There's a reason we end prayers with Amen (translation- 'the truth'). It's because we are expected to relate to our Wonderful Counselor completely in truth and without guard of the 3 reasons I mentioned earlier. We can still try to use that sort of reasoning with Him, but deep down, we know it wont get us very far in relationship with the Omniscient. With each other, however, there seems to be a sliding scale of how much truth needs to be incorporated into our interactions. How much the scale slides though seems up for interpretation from person to person, and unfortunately, that's when people seem to get hurt.
I want to be truthful to those around me in general. But in some sense, I don't have the obligation to be truthful to EVERYBODY about my life because really, there are not enough hours in the day. Likewise, I wouldn't expect the whole truth from most people either because I can respect that some elements of truth in our lives are private, protected, and should remain that way. A lot of times we cant necessarily be obligated to truth because we might not really have a conscience grasp of what the whole truth is. For example, I tell people in truth, that I will be leaving for Thailand in May. It's only a partial truth however, that I'm planning on leaving in May because really, I just don't know. The reasons I'm not sure yet, take far too long to clarify and frankly, I don't think I owe it to anybody to go into any further explanation. May just seems like a good estimate, even though it's only founded on something partially honest.
In my estimation there are 3 main reasons people consciously withhold truth:
1. We don't want others to know something about us because it's embarrassing, boring, or just doesn't seem to have much weight on the tangible, worthwhile part of the relationship.
2. We want to be valued for something other than what we value ourselves to be.
3. We want to manipulate and remain in control of a relationship. If we tell others the truth about ourselves, then it is up to them to make up their minds about us. If we feed them what we want (whether it is partially true, or an outright lie) then we still hold some sense of control over how we are perceived.
So how responsible are we exactly, to deliver the truth about ourselves? And what responsibility do we have to others to call them out on their partial truths? What about when those partial truths are hurting those around us?
There's a reason we end prayers with Amen (translation- 'the truth'). It's because we are expected to relate to our Wonderful Counselor completely in truth and without guard of the 3 reasons I mentioned earlier. We can still try to use that sort of reasoning with Him, but deep down, we know it wont get us very far in relationship with the Omniscient. With each other, however, there seems to be a sliding scale of how much truth needs to be incorporated into our interactions. How much the scale slides though seems up for interpretation from person to person, and unfortunately, that's when people seem to get hurt.
posted by carlymarie | 10:44 PM
3 Comments:
Half a truth is often a great lie.
-B. Franklin
Scully: Homer, we're going to ask you a few simple yes or no questions. Do you understand?
Homer: Yes. (lie dectector blows up)
did you fall off of the blogosphere?
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