Truth and Lies

Daily Meditation 94–5/27/2022

How does one suss out the truth when they are lied to only half the time?

“Truth is the first casualty of war.”
This is true to this day.

Political rivals will take events and behaviors of their opposition and twist facts into their favor.
The media manipulates data and statistics to match their agenda.

The key to their obfuscation lay in the occasional truth.

If one lies all the time, no one believes them.
But, if one lies half of the time while telling the truth (or half-truths) the other half, it is harder to parse out.

The unfortunate truth is that we are all at battle in various wars.

Politics.
Media.
At work.
In our public image.

We must go through life with a skeptical trust of others. Understand that nearly all people, parties, businesses, and organizations operate in a manner for their greatest benefit.

Assume they mean well from their words, but infer their true intentions from actions.

Where there is divergence in words and actions, be wary…

A person who speaks evilly and acts evilly is ironically more trustworthy than someone who speaks with roses and acts with swords!

Be mindful of yourself and strive to live in a manner consistent with who you insist you are, managing your perception of those around you.

Follow for daily philosophical meditations.

These are distillations from my coming book “YouDaimonia: the Ancient Philosophy of Human Flourishing.”