Truth Does NOT Set You Free: Why Illusions and Fantasies are Important For a Healthy Life!
Imagine this-
You are awake late in the night trying to finish an important presentation. The Goddess of Sleep is dancing all around you but you are determined not to be seduced by her. The scorching summer heat is making you sweat even in the night but you don’t care. A buzzing mosquito is annoying you to no end but you just squash it and continue. You’ve turned into a fearless soldier that no force can stop.
Morning sets in. You are in the office early for your presentation.
Finally, you dazzle your audience with your immaculate presentation skills! Your all night efforts have finally paid off and you feel immensely proud of yourself! Yay!!
While you savour your glory, did you notice that you squashed a living mosquito the previous night?
Probably not!
“Why should I? Who in their sane mind thinks of an inconsequential insect dying after they’ve achieved something worthwhile? The mosquito’s lifespan is so small that it would have died in a few days anyway! Why all this fuss, bro?”, you counter.
You see, from the perspective of our endless universe, your life is as insignificant as the mosquito’s. Our puny lifespan of 80–100 years is nothing compared to the current age of our universe — 13.7 billion years! And who knows for how many more billions of years the universe is gonna last!
“Humans are the most advanced species on the earth and probably the universe! Humans are the ultimate adaptation machine! Blah! Blah!”
All these praises are heaped on us by none other than ourselves! It’s like the late PM of India Jawaharlal Nehru awarding himself the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour in India!
Sorry to say this, but the truth is if you die right now, there is a 99.99% chance that the number of people affected by your death is < 10.
Yes, seriously!
Apart from your immediate family, most of the others will be sad for a moment and then they continue leading their busy lives. Maybe once in a year, when your death anniversary comes along, they might remember you as that motherfucker who came into their lives for a brief moment but got run down by a bullock cart!
Do you see how depressing all this sounds? How meaningless your life seems? But let me guarantee you, all that I described till now is the truth. It’s that existential crisis that has haunted man for aeons.
Why has it bothered us for such a long time?
Because it’s the fucking truth!
And this is precisely one of the reasons I say that we shouldn’t live by the truth. Truth in many cases can be a dark, bottomless abyss! If you keep digging deeper into the “Truth”, you’ll be sucked into a deeper hole of desperation and meaninglessness. Life turns into a living hell!
There are many such truths in life. For instance, consider Free Will! There is mounting scientific evidence that we are all puppets made of flesh and enacting the script written out by nature. All feelings of control that we perceive are illusory.
On the same note, there is also enough scientific evidence that people who have an inner locus of control are much happier and resilient than the fatalistic lot!
Absolute Truth can be dangerous. Very dangerous!
What do we do then? Live a lie?
Not necessarily!
You can choose to live by Relative Truth. You construct a positive narration about your life in line with your values and live by it. By your reference, you are still living an authentic life.
Does that mean you are living in your own little echo chamber?
Yes. But it is necessary and much better than trying to chase the Absolute Truth that simply depletes you of your valuable energy and leads to a pessimistic outlook of life.
You might be wondering whether all that I described till now is philosophical BS and doesn’t matter much in our day to day life.
But no! It matters.
The daily self-talk that goes on in our head is mostly true. Yes, we are incapable. Yes, our life will not amount to much. Yes, we are pussies!
But you can choose not to believe in this “Truth” and instead construct a positive narrative about yourself and believe in that instead. It may not be The Truth but it is empowering and leads us to go down the path of Self-Improvement.
You may not be the protagonist in anyone’s story but you can be one in your own!
Be the Batman of your own Life!
I’ll conclude with a quote by Tom Bilyeu, who’s thought process has had a profound influence on me.
As Tom is fond of saying, “Be Legendary!”
