“The enemy of the truth is very often not the lie (deliberate, contrived and dishonest) but the myth (persistent, persuasive and unrealistic)” - John F. Kennedy
Gosh, what a profound statement. What an astounding piece of logic delivered with such a monumental blow to our long held conventional perception that direct and barefaced lie are the greatest enemies of “right doing”.
Perhaps one of the the most prominent component of this myth is the whole false sense of security. We engage in this almost unwittingly. Everyone one of us at some time or the other comfort ourselves with this false state of belief.
Several years ago I was running a small computer business and shipped some equipment on credit to a a small retailer, who admitted, after weeks of dodging our accountant’s collection calls, that he was broke and could not pay the bill. After a lengthy conversation with him, that seemed like it was going nowhere but to the small claims court, I decided to call it quits.
This retailer then proceeded to do something that baffled me and set me up for this this “diatribe” I am about to unleash in this post.
He pleaded with me to part with him on a good note and leave him with a good feeling going through his weekend. By the way, this was a Friday evening. He continued with this pleading for nearly half of the time that we were on the phone. It then struck me that he was more concerned about getting a feeling for that moment rather than facing the reality of his situation.
What he desires is what a lot of us engage in daily. A false sense of something to avoid the reality of our present situation. That deception of our reality is one of the arch rival of the truth of our circumstances. It is persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.
We believe that we have money when we exist for the next pay check. We parade an up-to-date car, house and all the paraphernalia of a successful persona but owe more on those “assets” than we have yet paid to date on them.
We cannot do anything without the next major windfall. So we live for the upcoming tax refund. In fact the refund is already committed and, by all intents, fully spent. And if the refund comes a few days later than it should we are on the IRS website and / or “burning up” the phone because it should have been here already.
No, we cannot live like this. This is not living this is even worse than existing. You have got to move beyond where you are. There is an abiding false sense of… something!
Debunk that myth and face your reality. If you have it, then you have. If you have not then you need to get busy.
“To the degree we are not living our dreams; our comfort zone has more control of us than we have of ourselves.” - Peter McWilliams