Pursuing your Truth
“Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society.” – Thomas Jefferson
A free society works best when we are all responsible and accountable for our words and deeds. Our speech and actions work best when we base our decisions on the truth. As I have discovered, truth can be relative based on how we perceive the world and on how we define it from a personal standpoint. However when we compromise what we say and do (i.e. when we behave poorly), we perpetuate anarchy rather than cooperation. This is disturbing and disruptive and leaves little room for establishing a solid foundation on which to build.
Lately, I have been very interested in triggers that can spark a fantasy or a delusion. The stimulus hits the trigger and usually our response is not conscious. Even though we seek the truth our interpretation of the situation creates a mindset of seeing what appears to be the case rather than the actual condition. So let me go into this a little bit by first describing how our triggers are tripped by others and then how we can validate our own independent conclusions of events or conditions.
The Danger of Accepting Purported Truth Pre-digested for Your Consumption
“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.” – Rene Descartes
Manipulative people are pretty conscious in that they know what buttons to push to get us going where they want us to go. They play on our unconscious triggers to push us into doing their bidding. I used to think that I could take at face value whatever someone said simply because I wanted to believe they were honest and acting in good faith. Then I started to realize that many times their presentation of the facts was driven by a power-seeking or economically-motivated agenda. In order to accomplish their objectives they would color or twist the facts in their favor. By working their agenda rather than pursuing my best interest, they demonstrated a conflict of interest never identified at the front end. Often, when questioned about a particular aspect of their offering, I noticed that the answers I received were kind of smarmy and evasive – basically, I couldn’t get something to hang onto.
The desire to gain power or money is not inherently bad as long as people selling their ideas (let’s ignore products for now) are upfront about their motives. It is unfortunate, but people aren’t always on the up and up about the negatives of the idea they want us to accept. Either they are embarrassed by their wants or the power of their argument is not strong so they have to distort the facts to get us to buy what they are selling. In effect, the messenger lacks integrity and the message itself may be flawed.
“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.” – John F. Kennedy
In politics, we often see truth manipulators who are established within a cultural setting operating within a context of:
- Concentration of power
- Conflict of interest
- Greed
I especially noticed David Brooks’ comments on NBC’s July 27, 2014 segment of Meet the Press where he said: “Politics is a competition between half-truths. Usually both sides have a piece of the truth.”
Speaking of the media, recently I noticed a graduate degree dissertation entitled: “Getting Away With It: How Reagan and His Men Covered-Up Iran-Contra by Managing the News.” I haven’t read the dissertation and would not know if it actually happened. However, if true, I would bet it should be of significant concern to truth-seeking citizens. We don’t want our political leaders to mislead or misdirect us in justifying their actions. Growing up I thought only the Soviet Union used propaganda but that seems to be my error.
Recently, one of my fellow Vistage Chairs, John Calia, took to task cable media in one of his blogs entitled Stop Watching Cable News Now. As John says in his blog, he has stopped watching cable news and receives news feeds from a variety of sources he deems to be more reliable. Basically, John wants to find the news rather than listen to talking heads on cable networks. This brings me to the real point of this essay: what gets in the way of finding your real truth?
Remove Significant Obstacles to Arrive at Your Truth
“People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe.” – Andy Rooney
I think we would all be better served by looking at our underlying drives and motivations so that we can observe how we look for, assemble and process the facts. Why? Because we have a bias in reaching conclusions and much of our behavior and thinking is heavily influenced by our wants and needs, many that need to be acknowledged as part of our compilation of the truth. What motivates us orients us and points us in a certain direction at the expense of other alternatives. Unconscious, knee jerk reactions also blind us to greater truth.
“Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.” – Mahatma Gandhi
If you have ever gone fishing and your line is tangled up around your reel you have what is called a bird’s nest. In effect the line, which is normally tight around the reel, blows up and lacks tension and freezes up such that your fishing pole is practically non-functional. Many a fisherman has spent a good deal of time trying to untangle and tighten up the line around the reel – time that could have been devoted to fishing. I think our brains sometimes look like a bird’s nest thereby rendering us uncertain and confused. When the fisherman is confronted with a bird’s nest he has two clear choices – he can cut the line and reattach his bait and hook or spend time trying to clean up the mess. What do you do if your brain looks like a bird’s nest and you are stuck and can’t move forward? Given the fact that your brain has a more complex architecture than a fishing line, I favor cleaning up the mess and learning techniques for preventing the bird's nest from happening again.
“There's a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth.” – Maya Angelou
I suggest the following circular process for the pursuit of your truth:
- Be honest with yourself as to your current state – Do you or don’t you know what is true?
- Pursue the facts and verify them.
- Weigh the importance of the major facts.
- Look at your underlying drives and motivations, some of which are hidden but can be discovered.
- Evaluate your behaviors. Know which ones serve you and which ones diminish you.
- From your behaviors discern:
- Your wants
- Your needs
- Your agenda
- Question everything and then integrate all of this information and reach a conclusion.
- Repeat the process, if necessary, until you feel confident you have the truth.
- Share your process and your truth with others to achieve even greater clarity.
Conclusion
“What is to give light must endure burning.” – Victor Frankl
Unlike the politician who evades a question to put forth his own talking points or the news media that loves its sound bites, finding your truth requires a greater level of consciousness on your part lest you fall into sloppy patterns of thinking. You have to live with the results of your thought process and actions. You have to ask and answer the hard questions. If you want lasting truth, avoid labels, knee-jerk reactions and saying things just to be accepted. If you are willing to live with less than the truth you are selling yourself short and you will create your own sense of alienation.
Just like politicians and the media feed you with colored facts and half-truths (i.e., incomplete and misleading data), you can also feed yourself irrelevant and deficient information because of unseen (hidden) motivations and drives. You arrive at your truth by knowing you have propensities and tendencies that point you in a certain direction so that you can compensate for your bias. The ability to know yourself at a deeper level is the highest form of truth. Go for it!
“Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.” – Albert Einstein
And, there is more, there always is.
Be genuine.
Copyright 2014 © John J. Trakselis, Chicago CEO Coaching
Join the Discussion
What’s on your mind? What’s keeping you up at night? What are the thoughts from your desktop? If you have topics you’d like John to cover in this blog, please email john.trakselis@vistage.com or call (708)443-5518.