Tell people the complete unadulterated truth, the truth that they need more than anything, the truth that will save them…and they will tear you to shreds. Truth is a hated and dangerous thing, once has to be careful how they wield it or they could end up in hot water. We live in a world that is allergic to and has a deep hate of the truth. Everything about the modern world is build on carefully constructed lies, lies that could be upset by the exposing of the truth. The modern world is a lie and therefore truth is dangerous.
This can be frustrating. If you’re reading this site then you’re likely a truth seeker. You want the harsh truth over pleasant lies. You’ve likely had your worldview torn apart in front of you and just about everything you believed turn out to be lies. And now you seek truth so that this doesn’t happen again, so that you can live in accordance with reality. This makes you an exception, it makes you special. As in there are not many like you, you are unique. Most run from the truth, more fearful of it then pain, destruction, and desolation.
But this can be frustrating because we all have friends, family, and loved ones. We all have various relationships, close ones, with people who are allergic to the truth. Who are so steeped in the lies and nonsense that it can be almost mind blowing at times. Granted the more one learns that less faith they learn to put into humanity but still this can be grating. Someone you care about, who may be wise about some things, is steeped in a lie/lies that are hurting them and you feel powerless to help them.
What Not To Do AKA You Can’t Save Them All
The natural reaction to this is to spell out the truth to them, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. For example if someone you loved was on fire and standing next to a lake you’d yell “Jump in the damn lake!” right? Yet this doesn’t work out so well. What you’ll most likely get is anger ranging from annoyance to outright screaming. The last thing you want to do is lay the entire truth of them (though there are certain times when this is needed, but that’s beyond the scope of this article). You have to be smart about this and understand how humans work.
First off understand that not everyone can be save, consider this yet one more harsh truth of this world. Some people are meant for the fire so to speak and that’s just what’s going to happen. Doesn’t matter how much you love them, care about them, or want them to see the truth. Some people just aren’t going to see it and you need to save yourself the trouble (and sanity) but understanding that. It sucks and sometimes it means certain relationships can’t go on and that’s unfortunate but it’s also the truth.
It’s important to be able to identify those that can be saved and those that cannot. A persons’ heart matters, some are just lost but open to distant calls from the truth. While others are so invested in the lies that they’re beyond saving. They’ve built their house so firmly on the sand that they’ll ignore everything about the tide coming in. There’s nothing you can do for them only outside, often traumatic, events can do anything for them. But there are others who hearts are open, if only a tiny crack, and they can be saved but you have to be smart about it.
Asking Questions As Opposed To Giving Answers
It’s weird some of the stuff you’ll learn reading the Bible. One thing that stood out to me was the number of questions that Jesus would ask those he came into contact with. So here we have a guy who according to the mythological structure knows everything, he’s the son of God and has the complete truth. Yet whenever he interacts with others he doesn’t go on the offensive, even to those steeped in lies. He starts with a question and lets them come to their own conclusion about the thing. Then he leads them on from there.
He inquires about their beliefs and lets them get it all out in the open. This is the first step, if you want to lead someone to the truth you need to first identify their lies, while also understanding that you’re not perfect and will have your own faults and blind spots yourself. Let them talk and don’t attack or judge. Let them get it all out on the table so you can look at it all and when you see obvious lies don’t attack them or point out why they’re wrong. Instead ask more questions.
Try to get a deep understanding of why they believe the things that they believe and how they came to such beliefs. Don’t attack at all, even if what they’re saying is causing your blood pressure to rise. Listen to them and hear them out. Not so you can jump in and correct them but to truly and genuinely listen to them. Let them express as much as they feel like. Some people take more time to get warmed up then others, let them have this time. And have a gentle inquisitive demeanor with them.
Leaving Crumbs And Dripping The Feed
Then once everything is out start examining certain aspects that they’re not quite as invested in. Ask them questions about it and in a gentle way bring up contradicting opinions and ask “Wonder why that is.” or “Wonder why they think that.” or something of that nature, you get what I’m talking about. Be on the same side as them and investigate things with them. Like a child you’re doing a puzzle with that you have the answer to. There’d be no point in answering the puzzle yourself, you lead the child to the answers but let them do the work.
This might sound corny but you want to do this out of love and of course never be patronizing about it, be genuine. You’ll be rougher with some people then you will with others, love isn’t all soft and gooey sometimes it’s hard and tough. Leave crumbs for them to pick up on and discover themselves. Let them keep getting crumbs and lead them closer to more and more truth. The more crumbs they pick up the more open they’ll be to more and more truth. But don’t blast it all out yet. This is a slow and steady process, most things in life are.
Then once they have a bit of a grasp on it you can start to drip feed truth to them. Don’t dump a bucket on them, that’ll backfire. Just drip by drip leave truth to them. Slow and steady, sometimes they won’t accept it and that’s fine. Little by little, cautiously, gently, and slowly lead them towards the truth. Ultimately it’s up to them what they do with it but this is how the process works. If you want to learn more about it then you should study sales, persuasion, and things like propaganda. Edward Bernays, Gustave Le Bon, Grant Cardone, etc. It’s the same process largely.
