YOU CANNOT HANDLE THE TRUTH

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” — Albert Einstein 

The title is from a great movie that many have probably seen; A Few Great Men, where the general played by (Jack Nicholson) is yelling at the lawyer played by (Tom Cruise), “You can't handle the truth! But what does that mean? It means an individual or group of people aren’t able to accept or believe the truth! In other words — idealism, irrationality, conditioning, or conformity play a massive part in our civilization. There is a Russian proverb that says, “Trust but verify.” 

I have come to my own understanding of this proverb and I genuinely respect it. And before the Russian proverb, the great philosopher Plato once said it rather well, “No one is more hated, than he who speaks the truth.” Because so many live in the shadows of reality, that it has become more difficult for people to see the truth because they refuse to verify it. Either way, those willing to verify anything worthwhile are considered action-takers, goal-seekers, believers, realist, or conspiracy theorist.

It is difficult even to conceive or believe. What life must’ve been like for Emperor Marcus Aurelius, King Solomon, or Alexander The Great? The truth is many of them weren’t born emperors or rulers, and nowhere in their timeline did they just get the position of a ruler from entitlement. It was earned and pressed upon them because of their characteristics, their tenacity, and their ambition. Nevertheless, these individuals would soon be the richest men in the world, the leaders of the most powerful armies on earth. That didn’t just happen and it isn’t some illusion either from history. 

What we experience shapes our reality. “Seeing is believing,” right? Not necessarily. Visual illusions and propaganda can distort our perception so that what we “see” does not correspond with what is physically there. And because of our own experience of screen time or technology in general. Many people have come to live in this wide industry of attention holocaust. There is scientific evidence out there on the surface but because so many refuse to research, investigate, or verify they fall prey to being feed the illusions. The word “illusion” derives from the Latin illudere, “to mock,” whereas the word itself has roots in 14th-century Anglo-French, meaning an act of deception. That's because our brain, not our eyes is the final arbiter of “truth.” 

Our personalities and behaviors are shaped by our experiences, education, and social interactions, so how might the months of being isolated from friends, family, colleagues, and exercise alter us? Answer!! — Over the last five years, I have been closely using my observation, the consensus that, while personality traits and human nature are relatively stable, they are not. Instead they continue to evolve through life and in response to major life events; transgender movement, religious liberty, equity, racism, entitlement, and a much more.  

In other words, from a logical standpoint and theoretical perspective, there is every possibility that at least some of us will have been left changed emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, and physically by the lockdown of truth. In fact, I was stunned this morning, by the existence of the truth from Dr. Alfred Adler — stated in his context; “Educatability may be shattered by two factors. One of these factors is an exaggerated, intensified, an unresolved feeling of inferiority, and the other is a goal that demands not only security and peace and social equilibrium but a striving to express power over the environment, a goal of dominance over one’s fellow. Children who have such a goal are always easily recognized. They become “ problem” children because they interpret every experience as a defeat and because they consider themselves always neglected and discriminated against both by nature and by man.” This is unacceptable and irrational behavior but it continues to exist because of pathological conditioning of the spirit or soul. It becomes acceptable, tolerant, and even numb to reality. I have come to fully agree with Dr. Adler, Dr. Peterson, Dr. Schweitzer, Dr. Frankl, Dr. Sligman, and the others mentioned herein. For they have become a major source of my own wealth of knowledge. I believe it is a habit of nature in taking truth seriously, and for that, it makes more sense today, as we know that many of these individuals or groups are living in such an irrational system (Illusion) of life. 

The universal questions… Has society changed since covid? Has our society or civilization mentally evolved into something terrifying? 

In closing, a few weeks before Albert Einstein’s death he wrote a letter to the family of a recently deceased friend in which he wrote, “For people like us who believe in physics, the separation between past, present and future has only the importance of an admittedly tenacious illusion.”

I can’t speak for Albert Einstein, but having come to the same realizations myself, not through physics though it does play a vital role, but through rigorous internal enquiry, my understanding of the illusion is that it is real and as real as we think. That illusion is obviously seen in the lives of those crazy ass scientists and politicians that create them for the people they want to control. And if you do not believe that humanity has the power to control or alter your reality, than you are living in your own fake reality (illusion). 

“To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” - Theodore Roosevelt 

With gratitude, 

Coach Frank Sagasta 

                    

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