The Pondering

Truth, Lies, and Reality

Life is more nuanced than simply sorting subjective and objective truth. Cultivating discernment requires sophistication in multiple social domains.

Let’s start with the obvious. Humans are storytellers. All of us. Obvious isn’t objective or consensual truth, as in common sense. Victims and survivors are born in the same event; the only difference is their narrative. Both narratives are subjectively true. Both narratives are objectively functional. Being pessimistic can result in increased safety by curbing risks, but could lead to loss of opportunities. Being optimistic can lead to failure due to dismissing real obstacles as too trivial to be concerning. How do we sort reality when more and more scientists are wondering if reality is even real?

There is science that says all humans lie. How often and the reasons for are as plentiful as there are people. When neurologists severed the hemispheres of epileptics by removing the corpus callosum, the tissues that connect both sides of the brain, they discovered the dominant language side lied more often than not. If it didn’t know an answer, it always created one. It never said “I don’t know” or even confabulated an answer that was close to being rationally plausible.