Saturday, June 28, 2008

Did sincerity die? (Quaere Verum!)

Within my quest for Truth, when I speak of Truth ...

I am not referring to a profound mystery, such as the "meaning of life", nor any particular controversial fact related to politics or the World stage. Nor even to my own opinions, per se. Truth is that Universal reality over-which no individual has dominion.

Truth is immutable. It belongs to the Higher Authority.

I speak of Truth -- as was once spoken, in the Latin tongue: veritas.

"Liar" is such an ugly notion. I’ve always disliked the nuances of the word "liar", due to its inherent connotations of: malicious dishonesty, and deceit. Instead, let us use the term "insincere". Let's take a step back.

Am I alone in this thought, or are there genuinely more "insincere" people these days ...than ever before? Whether we realize it or not, what we say, is often not, "meant".

I've observed the phenomenon everywhere -- from printed headlines, to verbal opinions voiced by friends, family, colleagues, peers, superiors, subordinates, contemporaries, lovers, ex-lovers, and (most especially) politicians. Everyone seems to be "insincere" towards everyone else -- as if falsehood has become ingrained into the very fabric of society.

Has everyone become a liar? Why do so many gravitate to the "insincere"?

Most often (me thinks), insincerity is engaged to promote some sort of advantage. Knowledge of the truth can be an advantage. Knowledge helps us to face life’s myriad situations, and "advantage" is apparently not something most of us are willing to share (nor give up), or even acknowledge (when we're wrong).

The irony is this: while there may be a surfeit of corpulent liars today, there’s a scarcity of really good ones. 'Tis one thing when a person lies to your face, but when that person has lied to your face (and you learn later, that the person was indeed -- lying), the discovery becomes pathetic.

Sarcasm: if a person is intent on their lie, ought they not know "how" to lie (without being caught -- giggle)? If you, like me are a keen observer of human behavior -- it really isn’t that difficult to tell when a person is lying... The difficulty is in how to address the lie so that correction can be made. But, let us return to the initial topic.

Is honesty "passé" ?

Is the telling of Truth still considered "virtuous" (when barely anyone embraces it?

What is it with people today?


Did sincerity die?

Has truth become so very trivial and so extra inconsequential, that no one bothers to seek it out, much less -- engage "truth-speak"? Are we, as people -- as a race of Men, so incapable of flatly stating what "is" (in lieu of wrapping-up off-color, skewed "mistruth" inside of a web of deceit, lies, and confusion)?

Are we now (by nature) more deceitful, than we were (by nature) more sincere?

Call me pessimistic or cynical, but somehow -- it seems that way. Quite a shame really, and this worries me: when one thinks about it, once we’ve crossed the line to the point of being comfortable with (and even believing our own gross falsehoods) our undoing becomes inevitable. Lies stack up on each other, creating even more lies, breeding suspicion and mistrust -- and eventually manifest themselves (at a future time) as a destructive force which usually remains a mystery -- until too late.

Man by nature, is a social animal. One need not be a sociologist to imagine what long-term damage such a surplus of lies and fabrications can do to Mans' complex social structures. And history has shown us, that civilizations and societies do fall from such ills. One way or another, the downfall emanates from deceit. Such catastrophe has happened before, it will probably happen again, alas. But it won’t happen overnight. That collapse might not occur within our lifetimes, nor our childrens', childrens' lifetimes -- but we’re on our way...


Unless we can each see, then make correction -- to the errors of our ways.

Quaere Verum!
Me Thinks