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Think for Yourself, Schmuck! / Re: Comments on The Devil's Discordian Dictionary
« on: June 21, 2011, 12:18:33 am »Quote
11. The Truth: (Noun) This is possibly the most important concept in this list. Truth is often mistaken for religioun, philosophy, or principles. This, of course, is incorrect.
Truth is, in the plainest terms, the way things really are, as opposed to the way we'd like things to be. The truth can change with conditions (ie, it's true that the sky is clear here today, but that may not be true tomorrow), or even with perspective (a simple lesson in relativity will demonstrate that), but it is not subject to opinion or wishful thinking or even the strident demands of those in authority.
Needless to say, telling the truth will not make you popular at parties, because most peoples' most closely held beliefs are not based on truth. In fact, there isn't a single political philosophy that is based on truth, nor any religions (at least, not that can be proven). Communism doesn't work, no matter how badly you want it to. Neither does laissez faire capitalism, anarchy, or anything else that deviates from the primate pack mentality (Constitutional monarchy does just fine, as does a democracy/republic so long as there is a president/prime minister/whatever to represent the alpha of the pack). The reason for this is that the truth is that we are primates, and we act like primates, so - at least in a group of any size - we need alphas, and the rules that they enforce.
Sometimes it's not always desirable to TELL the truth ("My, what an ugly bride"), but it is always desirable to see and understand it, unless you're the kind of person who likes walking around cacti with a blindfold on.
In short, the truth is the way things are, whether or not you like it or care to see it. You can often get away with ignoring it, but eventually, you're gonna get bit.
The truth is a horrible thing. It isn't always noble, it's rarely pleasing, and it can sometimes even drive you mad. But it is the only thing worth having.
I wholeheartedly agree and have often tried to illustrate this principal in rants. I like to find utility in the "softer" truths. A principal I call "True Enough" If you find yourself on top of a jungle temple about to have your heart cut out to feed the gods it no longer matters if those gods are real. The temple is real. The sun glinting off that obsidian dagger is real. The theology enthusiast holding it is real and so are his crazy-dance thoughts about you. He thinks the gods are real and that he's their go-to guy. Then gods become pointedly real seeming to you thanks to him. They're real enough to cause change in human behavior that makes it real.
Early protohumans really got to banging rocks for a long time. At some point the truth of the environment started getting through to their minds and they realized not all rocks are equally useful. The banging got more serious when the truth that some rocks can break others into far more useful rocks was discovered. This also got us the FIRE! This basic rock alchemy got us through a lot but I think the tendency may have turned on us with our newfangled toys. It is the truth that banging rocks is a time-honored human skill. I think it may become true that the subatomic rocks we keep banging burn us in the end. Truth is a horrible taste that never goes away.
The common ground between the gods and our rock habit is another truth. It is true that humans can manifest their imaginations of the world into the world and change it and other humans in functionally irreversible ways. This is what is most godlike to me about us. This terrible responsibility used to keep me awake when I was much younger and full of more theological pretensions than I hold now. I think that is was no real lie (in the Big Story) when the serpent allegedly said "You won't surely die. The Gster's holding out on you. When you eat it your eyes will become open like God, knowing good and evil" in two senses. 1. I think we already were Godlike monkey stuff. 2. Whatever really happened we sure did learn a lot and may yet find the means to life. It is true enough that our species faces godlike choices.
Gonna hang out in the real now. Peace and be happy for it's own sake!