FacToiDs . TruThiNess . HoNesty

These are usually perceived to be the same, but are markedly different. Truth and fact are not one in the same, but are interconnected in their relation to one another. Truth and honesty are not the same, but do share a relationship as well. What do I mean by this?

Truths are not self-evident entities. They change form and shape depending upon the context. Saying, “Fanon is my friend” can be true in a specific sense of context. Fanon can be your Imaginary friend, or supportive guide on a metaphoricaL level or plane — this is truth. This is your truth at this point in time. If, however, you lose faith in Fanon or come to a profound disagreement with his ideals and ideas, the truth can change; Fanon is no longer your friend. Or, if your cousin asks you, “Who’s your friend here, at work?” Again, in that context, Fanon is not your friend. In the context of work, in the context of people you talk to in an external reality, this truth is no longer self evident.

Truth is an amorphous, chameleon-like being — changing its shape and form within different contexts. TRUTH KILLS ads — yes, there are truths based upon statistics and facts, but they can also contain untruths in the way those bright orange ads frame facts, frame an idea of truth. TOBACCO KILLS. Um, yes, it can kill eventually when smoked on a steady diet of cigarettes and cancer cells. This can also be an untruth. TOBACCO KILLS. Does it kill immediately? If you set tobacco upon a table and gave it a knife, could it jump up and kill you? And no, shroom-induced hallucinations do not count.

Facts take on the same qualities, so it isn’t a surprise when so many truths are based upon facts. The thing is, facts are just as much tricksters as truths — and perhaps even more dangerous when people take facts as a carte blanche to disseminate their own truths in a violent fashion.

Again, fact and truth are not the same.

Facts are based upon selectively selected (is this redundant? ahwhocares) empirical evidence. Lunesta will help you sleep. Lunesta is non habit forming. These are facts. Sleep specialists advise against taking chemicals to induce sleep, habit-forming or not. This is another fact.

TRUTH: If you have trouble sleeping at night and don’t mind taking pills, Lunesta is a good option because it is non-habit-forming. (CUZ U WON’T TURN INTO A SLEEPING PILL JUNKIE, YARRR!)

TRUTH: You should avoid taking Lunesta, even if it is non-habit-forming, if you are concerned for your overall health as a sleeper and if you think the advice of professional sleep specialists is more valid than the advice of a pharmaceutical company.

The biggest break from Truth and Fact would be Honesty.

Honesty is NOT TRUTH and it is NOT FACT. It just IS. The thing is, it may interact with the external world LIKE a trickster, but at its CORE, it is performing something completely opposite. Truths and facts change their skins, their shapes to fit into an answer someone is seeking, a preconceived need for a specific type of information.

Honesty is much more genuine and all the more elusive than truth and fact because it does not owe its loyalties to anyone or anything but itself.

Honesty is intuitive. It is a sincere demonstration of trust in what you believe to be true. So whether or not your opinion or perspective on the world changes, if you sincerely believe what you believe to be a Truth, if you FEEL that it is your Reality — that’s honesty right there. Honesty cannot make a liar out of you, whereas truth can.

I LOVE THIS PERSON. <– this can be honest

I CAN’T STAND THIS SAME PERSON AFTER SHE RAN OVER MY PUPPIES AND CHUCKED THEM INTO A RIVER. <– this is just as honest and genuine.

Truths from the past can pin you up against the wall, make you beholden to a history you are no longer a part of. Facts can haunt you like a ghost.

Yeah, the Dalai Lama used to smoke crack and eat Foster Farms chickens every Saturday night — these (made-up) facts are entities that can haunt the Dalai Lama in the present, even though these facts no longer hold true in his current reality.

To the same effect, the Dalai Lama no longer smokes crack or eats Foster Farms chickens on any night — or day, for that matter — because he sincerely believes it is WRONG. Once understanding the link between crack and COINTELPRO, once understanding its destructive history, once understanding how it is negatively affecting his emotional and physical health, he has genuinely come to believe in a Reality that is more solid and healthy without it. Same goes for those factory-raised chickens. Aaaaaaand the fact that the Dalai Lama probably doesn’t eat meat. I think. (Gah! I should do more research!)

But all that, is HONESTY. He honestly didn’t give a fuck in this imaginary scenario, and he later honestly came to believe that how he interacted with chemical substances and dead poultry was wrong. And, in the present, an honest look at himself, of his past and present truths pinned together by past and present facts — THAT, my friends — well, shouldn’t it hold much more productive value in the present?

It isn’t a denial of the past, it is an acceptance of it and moving forward. But sometimes past truths and facts are so traumatizing that it disallows us and others to look at ourselves and leader-like figures (ich, and figureheads) in an honest fashion. We trap ourselves and our own levels of productivity with out-of-context truths and facts that don’t apply to the CORE issues of the present.

LOST. Thrown out of an airlock.

The person I am now, what I believe to be true, what resonates with me — all of it is different on a profound level when compared to who and what I was 3 years ago. Does that make who I was 3 years ago a fraud and a liar?

If we are looking strictly at facts and truths, then yes.

If we are looking at it through the lens of honesty, then the answer is no — because during that whole process and even today (as an Aries/Pisces mix perpetually on the verge of astrological death and rebirth) I was pursuing ideals, dreams and human connections with the utmost sincerity so that I could ease into my new shape with the onset of that period of transformation. I am still in the process of inner and external transformation. My truths will change 2 years from now on a profound level as well, of this I am sure.

I really, truly, sincerely want to reach a deeper level of understanding of myself, of others and my connection to the universe. I know that I wasn’t meant to have and know certain truths because for one — truths are always changing, and for another — the actual process will have me taste and not read about these different truths. And help me solidify into a stronger being on all levels.

This process of solidification will, at least, I honestly believe at this point in time, help me fulfill a larger destiny. Yes, my goal is to one day be able to comfortably identify as a writer - it’s still rife with insecurities at the moment, this identity. But my larger destiny — at least, based upon what I was told — is to help people. A simple goal, a simple destiny I’m supposed to fulfill within this lifetime.

But it’s something that’s resonated with me upon hearing it that rang true on an honest level. I know I’m supposed to help people, but I don’t know in what way I’m supposed to help them, especially on a larger scale.

Is it the dissemination of fact, emotional counseling, teaching, etc?

How is my help supposed to manifest within this lifetime? Supposedly I was born under a lucky star and I do feel a genuine sense of gratitude (when I take a step back) for all the opportunities I’ve been given or have been rewarded. It is only right to sow these seeds along the way to share in all my good fortunes.

Right now I’m in the process of another transformation, but I do hope that the darkest parts of it are done with — at least with this cycle. The thing is, when it’s painful, all I can do is focus on myself and my own struggles, and not of those around me.

I’d like to be able to feel and become solid enough and stable enough to fulfill what I’m supposed to fulfill within my lifetime with the cards that have been handed to me. (On a sidenote — cards are important, but just as important is how you play them.) I’ve been told that good fortune will rub off on those who are close to me, that good things will happen to those I connect with.

So I’ve been trying to connect with as many people as possible, only to discover — in a disappointed fashion — that maybe I’m meant to help people with my good fortune or whatnot, but not everyone. I don’t like begrudging people good fortune when I honestly believe they are not worthy. It feels dishonest. Like rewarding a misbehaving child just because you’ve got some extra candy lying around. Que American.

And, I do think I’m an American — on a meta-level, more American than uber-nationalists because I’m beyond national identities. Buuuuuuuuuuut, I shall get into that later. Anyway, some people aren’t ready for good fortune or to be helped or to be given a genuine sense of affection. Maybe they will be at a later point in time, but for some, that time is not now. And that’s okay. It’s okay to choose to connect only with those who are ready for a connection.

Like truths and facts, I’ve got to be selective in whom I choose to include in my present Reality.