Truth, Anyone?

Many things have been said to describe truth. Of course, only in the loftiest of terms (generally). It's ingrained to us by our school, our parents, the church, etc. Anyone who wants to be seen in good light simply has to talk about it, and...voila! You've just positively painted yourself. They are all good to say and equally as good to hear. You can't possibly go wrong using any of those axioms to sell your point (or make people feel better)...whatever the occasion may be - consensus meetings, life-sharings, courts of law, etc.

• The truth shall set you free
• There is no god higher than truth
• Truth is the breath of life to human society
• If a thousand old beliefs were ruined in our march to truth we must still march on
• Dare to be true: nothing can need a lie

Truth Subscription
But let's take a long hard look at truth. How many people actually subscribe to it beyond lip-service?

Quiz Show
This brings to mind the saga of Herb Stempel who exposed the truth by telling the world that the game show Twenty-One was rigged - this was later corroborated by irrefutable evidence. He said the show producers and host fed the correct answers to their chosen candidate before the show begins. This revelation however, ran smack against the current champion, the popular and good looking WASP, Charles Van Doren. The public simply loved Charles Van Doren. For the same reason, the producers also wanted Van Doren to stay champion to sustain higher network ratings.

Ruined Reputation
Sure, under public pressure, the show was cancelled as a result of Stempel's disclosure. You would think the public venerated Herb Stempel for taking the high moral ground by speaking his truth and revealing how the public was duped by the show's duplicitous maneuvering. No, that's not exactly what happened. Herb Stempel was vilified wherever he went. He became notorious for being the one who ruined the reputation of the public's darling, Charles Van Doren. It's not like the public didn't believe Stempel...they just loved Van Doren.

Selective Truth
I'm not talking about people covering up the truth because of personal gain (the way the Gloria Macapagal Aroyo sycophants do), or sweeping the truth under the rug because it's embarrassing (just too many to talk about), but people who look the other way of truth simply because they don't like it...it doesn't fit their personal ambience.

Ending Thoughts
What does that tell me? That exalting truth as an axiom is nice and dandy to pontificate about, but it is only exercised or subscribed to if and only if, it serves the individual's (or society's) interest and complies with its psychological well-being. In short, the use of truth is selective, disposable, recyclable and ignorable...depending on need, ambience and palatability. As one friend once remarked, "Truth makes for good conversation".

--- TheLoneRider

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Tony Ancheta

Comments:

TheLoneRider
"how you 'get by' and how you frame your decisions about how you do so remain a little fuzzy" -- Michael Fazackerley
(Oct 4, 2011) Hmmm....you got me thinking, Faz. I know the answer, but I don't know where to start or how I start.

Since I left Canada in 2005 up until June 2010, I never really looked for money - I wanted to be poor...to not own anything but enjoy everything. Money still landed on my lap - an unsolicited web contract, being cast as a Survivor Castaway, showbiz prize money, someone giving me a wad, etc. There was no need for me to chase the money. I actually enjoyed walking away from it - quite empowering, given that kings have abdicated and empires collapsed in pursuit of money. I never made much, but enough to fund my local travels and put food on my table. I was always 3 to 5 months away from living on a cardboard box...sometimes a few days with no safety net! That's really what I wanted anyway...life on the edge. So, I wasn't complaining. I was getting exactly what I wished for.

But in July 2010, the money dried up. It was a long drought that saw me in debt for P75K (about 4 month's wage here). I took it as a mandate to make a 360-degree turn from poverty to wealth-building. That deliberate and conscious decision is important - it changed everything. But how exactly was I to build wealth from scratch? Where do I start? There were many logical options but none called out - teach yoga? teach web design? put up an outdoor adventure tour outfit? enslave myself in the corporate world? The pressure and the urgency was almost paralyzing.

Instead of struggling, I let go and listened from within - in meditation. This collective universe holds a lot of answers...if we only listen. And then the Aha Moments came trickling down. I nurtured the process as I went to work in compliance to the Aha Moment. Then the Aha Moments became from frequent and intense. I had to have a voice recorder with me during meditation to record the torrential flow of ideas before they escape me. I dutifully labored to realize the Aha Moments - no shortcuts, single-minded focus, attention to detail, intense and objective driven. Sometimes, I would wake up in the middle of the night with an Aha Moment. I would start working at 2 or 3 am to ensure the Aha Moment is complied with. That has been the process to this date. I no longer have to do any deliberate thinking. An Aha Moment would present itself unexpectedly - that sets my direction and defines my work load. I realized that Aha Moments are far superior to my logic-based conclusions. Aha Moments are not only logical, but also thorough, covering all bases and has a unifying or holistic effect.

Have I made money? I make ends meet when business owners subcribe to my business directory - Coconut Insider. But I'm still hovering slightly above the poverty zone. There is so much more to do other than sell - and time not spent on selling is revenue lost. As I write this, I'm only a month away from the cardboard box. It doesn't matter. The things I've put into place are not designed to make money yet, but to prepare the foundation for a social enterprise that gives back to the community - but on my terms. I know that to be so, and I feel coming close to that threshold.

Already, the production phase of my social enterprise tool, CoconutInsider.com, is already complete using the popular technologies today. I am now focused on erecting the marketing edifice that would support a sales force. My compensation package is the most generous in the industry. I'm grooming a sales team of 4 to do the selling for me. At some point, I would like to have a team of sales people and coders on every major destination covered by Coconut Insider. My direction now is to be rendered expendable.

Today, I appeared on local TV promoting my coconutinsider.com. I also signed-up a one year tv ad that would be aired 3x/week for a whole year. In the coming days, I'll be doing the same for radio and newspapers - all exchange deal since I have no money. Already, I can feel the immensity of what this can become. It cannot go wrong - I can go wrong, but this Aha Moment-inspired enterprise has divinity written all over it. I'm just the obedient and compliant worker who sees the meaningfulness of this revelation.

At this point, I'm not too concerned about going broke (although it remains a possibility), but simply focused on perfecting my game. Don't get me wrong. It's not about the money (as long as I have enough to put food on my table). When I reach my ultimate benchmark, I would probably give all this to charity and go back to being poor - owning nothing but enjoying everything. This wealth-building process is really just another adventure, no different from mountain biking. I have chronicled all this in greater detail in the Wealth Building section of my site. Much later on, I would re-read the passages and laugh out loud.

Ah...such long winded answer. I'm not even sure if I answered your question. Sorry for getting carried away. I do hope this email finds you in great spirit, my dear Faz. Bests!

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