Do You Know The Types of Truths & Lies?
The Ways of Truth & Lies
Truth comes in many forms, and so do lies. What distinguishes them is how much they allow (support) or limit us from taking right action. And, the plane on which we are taking that action. Archetypal truths and lies (the top of the four planes described in the Kabbalha) are different from Creative plane truths, and so on.
But what we are interested in here are the truths and lies we deal with every day.
Location Based Truths -
The fact that truth varies depending on the location of where you are and who you are talking about can be tough to understand.
- Personal - These are truths that are real for an individual, such as who they love. Only the person knows their own truth, but paradoxically, often do not know or own up to their own truths. And a person's false beliefs, educated guesses, and opinions can be paraded around as truth, when in fact they are not true.
- Family & Tribal - These are the beliefs and operating assumptions of close groups.
- Cultural - These are the "beleafs" and operating assumptions of a society or culture which hold it together, give it guiding principles, assign values to behaviors and actions, and distinguish it from other cultures.
- Planetary - These truths hold true for the entire planet.
- Universal - These truths are the ones that hold true regardless of who you are or where you love in the Universe.
Types of Truths
A quick overview of the kinds of truth used will help you make your Way in Life and distinguish truth from lies, so you can make the right decisions for your life.
- Original Truth - This seems to point to doing the right thing ... when you are working with the Origin of The Universe, or above the archetypal level.
- Everyday truths - Often distinguished from 'higher' forms of truth by the use of a lowercase t ... everyday truths talk about and convey truths about everyday matters and situations.
- Mokitas - Truths that everyone knows but are rarely spoken aloud. Often, they are assumptions about how life and the world works that happen to be true. Or deep truths about reality that few people want to face and openly acknowledge. But they are incredibly valuable when a mokita stops you from taking a wrong turn in your life, or points out the right path from a number of seemingly similar choices.
- The Whole Truth - To grasp what has happened and needs to happen, the truth needs to be complete. Leaving something vital or important out can drastically change our understanding of the truth and write action. Even seemingly unimportant details can impact our understanding ... and should not be deleted from a retelling since the witness often is not trained enough to be able to accurately determine what is important or not important ... across time and events. Anomalies are important clues about reality, the motivations of people, and the forces at work that are impacting and directing events. People also delete facts and observations from their tales of truth to hide their undesirable qualities and actions.
- Nothing but the Truth - Adding lies to a tale (or recounting) of truth is just like adding shoes to a pebble .. or pebbles to a shoe. The extra things inside make it hard to walk our talk ... and change the perception of the truth of the situation. Often referred to as "embellishing", these additions are usually ego based or intended to influence our understanding in the favor of whoever is telling us the additions. People add to seem smarter, enhance their stature or appear to have more of a desirable quality. They also add to justify negative qualities or actions.
- Emotional truths - These are the things many addicts hide from ... the truth their feelings and emotions want known and acted upon ... but which are often kept silent with drugs, food, adrenaline pumping moments or a life filled with (often useless or) meaningless activities.
What makes navigating truth so hard is that there is both perceived truth and absolute truth. People can only share what they know ... and if they only see a part of the truth, that is all they can tell you about. And, as is often the case, many believe what they see is the whole truth, so they can not (will not, dare not) tell you the part that is unknown to them ... where they know their perception of the truth ends. Put another way, if their vision is limited, so is their ability to see the truth, understanding it, and communicate it.
Many times absolute truth --- a full understanding or what is really going on -- requires many viewpoints and insightful minds which can see, understand and express the fullness of what is going on ... as well as its import.
For more ideas about types of truths, including understated, fictional, hyperbolic and sarcastic truth -- check out Parchment & Pen's genres of truth (midway down the page).
Types of Lies
Not all lies lead us into temptation or wrong action ... but many do. Here is a quick overview of the types of lies you may encounter.
- Little white lies - These falsehoods are commonly accepted statements of untruths that are thought to have little impact on right action. In fact, many think these are
- Fibs - Like little white lies, they are small personal lies
- Stretches of the truth - This seems to imply that truth is only elastic so far ... or a part of a journey (indicated by the path in key 18) which can be stretched out when you take a wrong turn.
- Skirting The Truth - This is carefully not telling everything one knows for the express purpose of not revealing the truth.
- Lying by omission - The companion to telling the whole truth, this type of falsehood gives a false impression of what is really going on. By leaving something out of the tale, no matter how seemingly unimportant, our understanding of the truth is compromised.
- Misleading Statements - This type of lie shifts our attention or gives a false impression of what is really going on.
- Tall Tales - Like stretching the truth, here one exaggerates in order to make a good story better or a dull story more interesting.
- Whoppers - Not related to a burger at Burger King (unless you are into nonsense ... and their recent marketing stunt to lie about removing it off their menu), these are Big lies given a name to denote how far they deviate from everyday truth.
- Original Lies - These are misrepresentations and false ideas are referred to by many names, including 'the dark con of man', and lead you astray with false beliefs about the Origins of The Universe and Reality.
See wikipedia for more in depth information about other types of lies, including bluffing, careful speaking, exaggeration, perjury and more.
Truths & Lies ... Where They Live
Truths and lies surround us. Ads leave things out or over emphasize their benefits (otherwise known as sex sells). Kids repeat everything their parents and siblings say ... often leading to embarrassing moments and revelations of truths others would like to keep under wraps.
Often hard to convey with words, higher forms of truth are often the 'sense in the nonsense' found in works of children's fiction as well as fantasy. Fairy tales, folk stories. myths and legends are the stuff both dreams and higher truths are made of. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol is a good example of higher truths about life and the process of alchemical, spiritual transformation being shared within nonsense poems and a land where imagination and possibility are at play.
If you want to learn more about truths and honesty, try the book Radical Honesty.