Truth

Lately I’ve gotten to thinking about the truth, and the concept and idea behind it. The common belief is that the truth will set you free, and that being completely honest is the best for everyone in the long run. For the most part I agree with that sentiment. But then I got to wondering (as I oft do) about the other side of things. Are there situations where the truth holds more power to harm than to liberate.

On the surface, it seems pretty odd to suggest that the truth is ever brought into question, that it would ever be anything other than the ideal choice. Though we often believe the truth is what is the right or correct thing to share, it’s not always that easy is it? It seems most people are okay with telling small lies, or white lies as they call it, as they are deemed to be harmless and help save face for everyone. But is that actually the case? Sure you can sidestep some awkward conversations and potential misunderstanding, but is that really better if you keep it going for a long time and things get out of hand? What’s a bigger blow when it all comes to light? The fact that your sister can’t sing? Or the fact that your sister thinks she can sing because you told a few white lies here and there, and now she has decided to pursue a career in singing?

I’m not saying that the truth is always the ideal situation either. Some people have fragile egos (me), and saying something upfront and truthfully would probably destroy what little confidence they had. Sometimes those white lies can indeed help to build up the persons confidence, and they can actually improve to a point where it is no longer simply a lie. But there’s still a very fine line there.

And what about situations where the truth could be considered the “right” thing, but would cause irreparable damage if let out into the open? An example would be a father telling his already hormonal and angsty teenager that he’s not the biological father, and he has no idea who their biological father is. Who knows what kind of can of worms something like would open up on a poor kid’s psyche?

All this is not even getting into the truly philosophical side of things. Truth would fall under the umbrella of knowledge and epistemology. It’s one thing to think or firmly believe something to be true, but how do we know if it objectively is? It’s one thing to believe, or think that a dress is black and blue as a universal truth, and for it to actually be one. It’s not until someone tells you something crazy, like the fact that the dress is actually white and gold that your belief is challenged, and the universal truth comes into question. Who is actually right? And what were to happen in situations where both parties are correct? Can something as crazy as multiple truths exist? I feel like there’s a distinct area where two parties with differing views of what the truth is can both be correct. After all, why is it acceptable to think that two people can interpret a piece of art or literature differently and still be correct, and not something like truth or what is fact?

All this overthinking, as you can tell, has gotten me nowhere. I am still on the fence on the value of honesty and truth. But perhaps that speaks more to the ambiguous nature of it all. If it was clean and simple, wouldn’t we all be doing the same thing? Yet another reason I feel that morality itself is more relative than objective. I’m not really sure where I was going with this, but I thought I’d just do some word vomit.