There’s an old saying, that the truth will set you free. A saying that I whole heartedly believe in, the truth will indeed set you free. It’ll set you free from a whole of things. An addendum I’ve made is that the truth will set you free after often horrifying you to your core. The fact of the matter is much truth is horrible to look at. Whether that’s the truth of human nature, how the world works, or a great many other things. That’s not to say everything is horrible and awful and there’s not point to life.
Or any nonsense like that. There’s a great many things to life and there’s a beauty to it. But the thing is we’re often raised in lies, lies that we cling to and that hold us back. But they give us some comfort and that comfort becomes like a drug that we depend on. We’d rather keep suffering then lose the comfort of our lies. However for those brave or foolish enough, they start to seek out truth. Most, mercifully sometimes, shy away from it when it starts to break the out shell of their lives.
They sink back into their cocoon of lies where they feel protected. The lies are happy to offer this protection so long as they can limit us and drain from us what they will. Too much truth at once the mind can’t handle and so it rejects it outright. The truth must be spoon fed bit by bit to take hold and even then it’s strong medicine and one has to be careful. Too much exposure to the truth at once can drive a person mad.
The World Around You & Truth
As I was saying above just because the truth is often horrifying does not mean that the world is just awful and there’s nothing good in it, though it can often seem that way. What happens is that the truth rips away your lies, your protective cocoon, and exposes your heart, mind, and soul to the bright light, which is needs to assimilate and adjust too. Which isn’t always, or nearly ever, a fun process. It’s often downright painful and you’ll go through a mental crisis of sorts being boggled by it. You may think how could you have been such a fool or a great many other things?
It’s a natural thing to go through this. It’s a needed process. And though not pleasant, it leads to good things. Like the parable of the man who built his house on the sand. When the tide comes in and his house is washed out to shore he’s at a loss. He’s reeling because he feels he lost everything, but what he has gained is knowledge. Knowledge that one should never build long terms things on something as finicky as sand. One must build their house on the rock.
Once one aligns themselves with the truth, how things actually are, a great many things line up in life. You can be free for the first time, though you’ll always bear a scar from the lie. Such is life and such is living, such is growing and the tough process of becoming wiser. However this process doesn’t always work like this. Sometimes when the sand house gets swept out to sea and one doesn’t know rock exists it results in madness, a feeling of futility and helplessness. Nihilism and things related to it.
Accepting The Good With The Bad
But that’s a whole other topic, if you want to know part of my thoughts on it check out my article on God and the cosmic/primal order. Back to our topic at hand, which is truth and madness. Another “error” that many fall into, me included which is why I write about it, is thinking things are all bad. Usually this happens when one was naive and thought everything was “good” and soon found that all to be a lie and now thinks everything is bad. Sometimes this can happen young, other times in the middle of life, and sadly also at its end. Naivity turns to cynicism.
But to me neither cynicism nor naivety are healthy states or what one should strive for. A healthy balance is needed and should be driven towards. The natural progression is usually naivity to cynicism to acceptance to freedom. When one doesn’t beat the head against the things of this world that just don’t change it frees up all that one can do. It’s dangerous, sometimes deadly, to get stuck in cynicism and never make the next leap. You get stuck in a mixture of depression and bitterness that festers.
Man was made to move and stride forward, though that is never easy. I’ve gotten a bit off topic, I tend to wander with my members only posts, but I hope you’ve still learned something or at least have been given some things to think about. I guess another thing I’m saying is that madness is not the way you have to go, though it’s completely understandable. Looking into the abyss and realizing its reality isn’t an easy thing to do and recovering from it and forging on is an ever harder thing to do. Perhaps one of the hardest things a man can do in this life. But like most hard things, in the end, it’s often worth it. Though the path may be perilous.
