Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction

Reverse Psychology. The thing with this is that when you reverse this, and you reverse it again, and reverse it again, and again, and again, it gets really complicated. And when you really get into your head, and once you've passed that certain point inside it, you can't turn back. That's what happened to me

- A patient in the psychiatric ward I volunteer in.

Despite it being one of the classic philosophical questions, it remains in the grey area without any clear distinction between the black and the white. And the very problem with Truth is that, it is pragmatic.

Truth and Reality differs accordingly across individuals. What may be true for you, may not be true for me. But that's just the problem right there.

How true is Truth?

You see, I am constructed towards subjectivity and pragmatism leaving little space for objectivity and the sort. I like to think I'm Cartesian in some ways. I am also, a highly intuitive being which means most of the time, decision-makings are rarely based on facts. Because facts can be manipulated.

I was also a science student who scored fairly decent grades for my science papers, and what I've learned is that variables too can be manipulated. So despite the knowledge that Life is full of variables which requires us to accomodate, to a certain extent, variables are manipulated by an outer force. Why? To attain that certain outcome that has been longed for.

These thoughts started to reconstruct themselves (since I last studied on Truth and Reality few years back) when I was writing this particular essay few odd weeks ago which centralises the notion of intersubjectivity and mutual ground.

What happens when 2 constructions of (true) reality do not fit and accommodate one another?

I was at one of the wards in the local psychiatric hospital for my volunteering. What we are supposed to do is converse with the patients which would be a really good practice with what I'm learning. But that apart;

I was conversing with one of the patients who conveyed to me clearly her distinction of Truth and Reality. I supposed, it gave a sense of confidence of what she was telling since she has been 'clinically diagnosed'. It is then manageable to distinguish between the Reality shared by most individuals (including myself) and an individual who has been 'clinically diagnosed' with delusions (or perhaps 'psychoses'). Hence, some sort of a black and white realm on its own.

But what has been racing back and forth at the back of my mind is the grey area of pragmatic Truth and Reality. The kind where you know in reality, the person is not 'clinically diagnosed' of any psychopathology, but the 'Truth' spoken by the person is highly unlikely. It may be logical, but due to circumstances, you just know it is unlikely. After all, the highly intelligent individuals are the sort - refer to Silence of the Lamb. It is the state of being in between two polarisations that swallow us all.

What is worse in these conditions is that when you start doubting your Self, Truth and Reality that it may destroy your internalisations as you can only take as much. I mean sure you may say it's all about your self-esteem, confidence and the sort. But if you believe in pragmatism and subjectivity as much as I do, the lines get blurry.

But I guess that's where Faith comes in.