The ugliness of truth

I have been an ardent follower of the dogma of truth. In my younger days I even hurt people close to me , and justified my behaviour because it was the 'truth'. Sadly I have not completely shaken the habit. And I say so not because I want to be admired for a very attractive weakness (like the interviewee who identifies his weakness as 'failing to strike a world/life balance') but I honestly believe that the truth is over-rated.
The opposite of Truth is not willful deceit, but simply untruth; so I am not advocating deceit as the preferred communication platform. But untruths are highly misunderstood and under-appreciated. One variety - the white lie - is commonly used and understood, but we usually don't even contemplate the extent to which we rely on deceit.
Jim Carrey's move (Liar Liar) was reasonably funny, but I doubt that it led to the serious introspection or philosophical debate of the value of Truth that this particular phenomenon deserves.
In a world of imperfection and sin, truth can by definition not be beautiful because the truth is imperfection/ reality.
We need deception to cope with a horrible world: it is the make-up that beauty puts on before it leaves the house. Without a bit of deceit, none of us would have any friends.

Comments

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