“We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.” -Iris Murdoch
Falsehood and deception is the way of the world today.
Turn on the tv or open your computer and you are flooded with altered pictures and spun facts, meant to get us to buy a product or idea. Every thing has a filter to remove the blemishes, whether it is the little lines on her face or the big lines from the politician or business leader that they don’t want us to see. A veneer, a fake phantasm that is designed to mislead and extract wealth or control or other resource from those that are duped.
Behind the illusion lies the truth. The Emperor has no clothes, the company is broke and the country is in danger from enemies both foreign and domestic. The reality is not pretty but harsh and unyielding, and covering it over with makeup or misleading labels changes not the fundamentals. The world is harsh, and lies do nothing but delay and compound the rude awakening as the Buddha discovered when the young prince finally saw the poverty around him.
Pierce the illusion. See the truth. It won’t be as seductive but it will be honest and real.