Why do people fear the truth?

Question

The truth can set you free...but most people refuse to face it. Will not listen to it. Why do people hide from it? Why do they deceive (even themselves) about who they really are & how they really feel? Some people live their entire lives in denial. Is it easier to live a lie or keep up a pretense than to face your genuine self? Is it easier to hide behind addictions than be sober? Is it easier to be phony than real?

Is your life an act?
Are you hiding behind a mask?
Can you admit who you are?
Do you hate anyone who tries to remind you, who points out the cracks in the surface?
Are you just a big overblown balloon waiting to burst...?

Tee hee! Looks like I hit a nerve Carnac. I can accept the self-righteous criticism. But I'm an open book. No addictions, no masks, no lies. Heart on my sleeve for all to read. Peace out.

Answer 1

You ask me how I became a madman. It happened thus: One day, long before many gods were born, I woke from a deep sleep and found all my masks were stolen,-the seven masks I have fashioned an worn in seven lives,-I ran maskless through the crowded streets shouting, "Thieves, thieves, the cursed thieves."

Men and women laughed at me and some ran to their houses in fear of me.

And when I reached the market place, a youth standing on a house-top cried, "He is a madman." I looked up to behold him; the sun kissed my own naked face for the first time. For the first time the sun kissed my own naked face and my soul was inflamed with love for the sun, and I wanted my masks no more. And as if in a trance I cried, "Blessed, blessed are the thieves who stole my masks."

Thus I became a madman.

And I have found both freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us.

But let me not be too proud of my safety. Even a Thief in a jail is safe from another thief.

Answer 2

I prefer it actually...

I would much rather have someone be honest and hurt me that way than to be tormented and ridiculed because I I was not aware of or could not accept my faults.

It takes a coward and a hateful person to exploit a weakness... and an intelligent man to accept that we are all in different stages of evolution and sometimes some people need a little help out of their ruts with a dose of truth...

Most people prefer pills so that they can remain screwed up and not ever have to face their demons...

I know mine... I have named them all over the years. Sometimes thanks to the honest people in my life and sometimes through the pain of ridicule.

The honest became friends... the others became painful reminders and went on about their own life and got their own Karma...

What comes around does go around... I love to hear people say that, with absolutely no clue that it also extends to them!

Everyone knows that the honest and the truthful are always exempt from the back swing of any pendulum...

Answer 3

I think that all too many people live their lives in order to please those around them -- in other words, to be popular. Otherwise, why wear absurd fashions, just because someone has dictated that you will? Why cultivate people with whom your relations are always going to be on a shallow level? Why adopt the ideas of those around you instead of thinking things out for yourself?
When I came to the conclusion that I really didn't care what the world around me thought as long as I was doing what I felt was right, I felt very free. To your questions, therefore: no; no; yes; no; no.
By the way we had a school prayer which began with the words: "Jesus said: 'the truth will set you free'", to which the response was "where truth is there is freedom indeed." I have never forgotten it.

Answer 4

The ultimate truth is death, and we all cringe away from that unless we've deluded ourselves into believing in something that comes after it (you can tell that I think religion is just a sophisticated way of lying to yourself) My theory is that the more afraid of your own mortality you are, the more you hide from other truths as well.

Maybe it's related to anxiety levels and guilt; if guilt makes you anxious you'd lie to yourself and others to avoid it. Or maybe it's just sheer cowardice, and a desire to avoid personal responsibility and having to take emotionally uncomfortable action.

The hardest part of maturing as a human being is facing up to your own faults and taking responsibility for your own mistakes; some people would rather remain emotional children all their lives than do this.

Answer 5

This is a good question. Fear is the lack or ignorance of understanding. Understanding strengthens the true and inner person and melts any fear of true inner expression. Self-deception is where human thought finds shelter and grows, so it is a good idea to get on with the true work at hand and unmask the face of evil where it lies.

Answer 6

People hide the truth because they think that is what other people want them to do.Some people lie to get out of trouble.When you were little and you accidentally drop something valuable to your family or parent(s) you usually lie. They don't want to hurt anyone or make them think of them in a different way so they lie about their life.People just have a hard time finding a better way of living.Once they find something that seems to work one ime they rely on that on thing( drinking ,drugs,ect.) hope i helped.

Answer 7

I wish i knew why people are scared of the truth i think its b/c they think
" the truth is going to make me unhappy , its going to make me scared and bring me down to a low point, The less i know the better "

Answer 8

we're all just lazy bum asses
easier, yeah...
more convenient? definitely
i never understood how the truth sets you free...i don't get it
life is one big fat lie so live it and deal with it
i really don't have a year to take off from my life to "discover" myself and "get in touch" with the inner me
thats just a bull crap excuse for a vacation. i mean if you want to take a break thats fine, go for it!

"life is but a dream for the dead" ~ my chemical romance (you know what they do to guys like us in prison)

Answer 9

[note i am talking about spiritual truth]some people fear the truth,but others love it.they fear it because they are not comfortable with the fact that they fall below the truth,and the people who love it are comfortable with this.we all fall short.

[for non spiritual truth ,their is a fear that others will see the dark truth about them.nobody is really afraid of non-spiritual truth,
only what can come with it.]

Answer 10

It is because people like to hold on to things. It is natural and makes sense with food, but with ideas, it is a misfiring of the need to hold on to things.