Truth in a World of Fabricated Realities

It is no surprise that our world is full of fabricated realities. From the moment you wake up to the moment you fall asleep, you are bombarded with lies masquerading as truth. There has never been a time quite like ours when it comes to humans living in false worlds. It seems like we have exiled ourselves from true life - from hard labor, deep relationships, and any wisdom that takes longer than a few seconds to digest.

Society has pandered to our appetites, and we have eagerly stretched out our hands to take all of what it offers. Namely convenience, entertainment, and pleasure. (Life is a scary thing, so why not ignore its hardships and scroll Instagram?)

We can see the results of this in ourselves and the people around us. We have short attention spans and are constantly searching for (or trying to create) meaning in our lives. In first-world countries like the U.S., we can have everything we want on a silver platter, and like so many wolves, we have eaten ourselves sick. Our souls long to break free of the chains of our comfortable prison, but we are too blinded to understand we have the keys to our cells.

So what then is this key? How are we to free ourselves into the real world?

With Truth, Beauty, and Goodness.

Surround yourself with art. Surround yourself with things that are enriching, things that you will learn to love (and yes, love for these things must be learned). I don’t mean look at some pretty Pinterest board or read a trashy romance book. I mean contemplate, really dive into things that are ancient and lovely.

Oddly enough, I see lots of truth, beauty, and goodness in fiction writing - especially classics.

“BUT WAIT!” I hear you say, “Isn't fiction technically a lie too?”

Well yes, I suppose you could call it that, but truth runs deep in old literature.

As I said earlier, there has never been a time quite like ours when it comes to people’s disconnect with reality. Our ancestors knew what life was about. They knew there was death, decay, suffering, and sacrifice. They knew what fresh blood on a dagger looks like, they knew how lovely the sound of running water is when you are thirsty, they knew how comforting the eyes of a loved one are, and how sad they become when life is no longer in them.

They knew these things because they experienced them firsthand. They were the shepherds, the poets, the farm children, the warriors.

Their hands were calloused but their minds were wise.

These were the people who wrote the fairy tales. These were the people who sang the ballads.

So do you want to be free from complacency? Do you want to see with eyes unclouded?

Read fantasy, read a classic, read fiction.