Truth

I remembered the famous line from the movie A Few Good Men
“I want the truth and nothing but the truth” Tom Cruise
“YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!” Jack Nicholson

For the most part I find the above statement to be true, we all talk about being honest and truthful but can we really handle the truth? For some great souls always telling the truth is as much a part of life as breathing or sleeping but for the rest of us telling the truth is a complex thing, we have to take into account several factors. If I tell the truth how would I be looked at? How would it affect the other person, would it hurt his/her feelings? Probably the biggest question is ‘How will this affect me?’

My son, like any 4 year old is a super-hero worshipper and he wants to grow up quickly like Spiderman or Superman, he constantly asks “When will I get as tall as Spiderman?”

I use this to get him to do the right thing “You will stop growing if you – Watch too much TV, Eat too many candies, Jump on the bed, Don’t listen to your parents, etc”
The truth is none of these things will help or hurt his growth process, yet I take solace in the fact that this lie is helping him acquire good habits that will help him in the long run.

This happened to a couple I know, the wife lost her job and was unsuccessful at finding another job for a long time, this failure made her bitter, she took up drinking, gained a lot of weight, hardly spent quality time with the kids and was not there for her husband. One day they found out their neighbor couple were getting divorced
Wife “Wow they appeared to be the perfect couple. I am sorry if I have not been myself recently but we need to keep the line of communications open, tell me are you happy with me? Is anything about me that is bothering you?”
Husband “Of course I am happy, if anything I love you more now than when we were dating”
Wife “I am sorry I am not myself recently – you probably hate me”
Husband “Look all I know is if I were in your position you would have done all this for me and much more”
The husband could have told the truth but he figured at that moment she needed more of an ego boost than reality check.

Praising cooking of someone who is learning cooking, giving encouragement to someone who is down on luck, etc. are times when we are not completely honest but the lie helps boost the morale of the other person.

Of course not all lies are good, in fact most of them are not good. Truth can be twisted and manipulated for personal gains. So then this raises a question, what is the absolute truth?

For me there is only one truth – and it resides in me, call it my inner self or my conscience – that is the whole truth. I can manipulate everyone but I can’t fool myself. Of course there is God and he knows it all as well. My actions are for me to take and for God to judge. “Be true to yourself” is the only, the complete and the ultimate truth for me.
To me the litmus test is facing myself, I can rationalize my actions to others, I can con them in giving me approval or receive fake pity but when facing myself there is no masking, I am stripped of all fake things and justifications and I become my own judge.
In the higher court or court of God my actions will be judged, rewarded and punished at a later date but my conscience will judge me instantly and constantly.

I might be a hero in the eyes of strangers if I climb a tree or a pole to get back the lost kite of a crying child but the truth would look down on me if I did that just to get close and flirt with the mother.

 

Dear Mrs. Menon
May God bless you for those lovely comments. As human beings we all have a lot to learn from each other, men for example has to learn the meaning of love and sacrifice from women.

 

Dear CarpeDiem : Thanks for the visit and comment. You are right that not just action but thoughts are important and our thoughts are known to us only so practicing truth there is very important.

 

Roopa : Thanks! What you are saying is true, we start by saying a lie for the good of others but soon we use it for personal gains and that is when it gets tricky.