Sunday, October 22
the art of lying
there's a particular card game
and it requires a certain ability to mask one's emotions
hence the name poker.
to keep a poker-face.
to bluff.
sometimes you win a game of poker
by leading your opponents to concede
and you flip your cards over.
it's a dud.
everyone groans
but nobody points a finger and snarls
you nasty little cheat.
it's a game of poker
where lying is made orthodox by the rules of the game
there's also another game of lying and deceit
in which we pay to be deceived.
everyone knows that the man on the stage is not who he claims to be
yet everyone is willingly deceived
as a captive audience
we all know that the magician works illusions
by trickery and sleight of hand
still we watch on in wonder
and gape in amazement
we want to be tricked
the performer who does not delude his audience disappoints.
there are a few kinds of games we play when we get bored
some are based on luck
some on skill
some a little of both
and there is yet another kind of game
that requires a key
like those little chinese puzzles
or the tower of hanoi
or mysteries
there is really only one correct answer
and once the puzzle is solved,
there is no fun in reworking it any more.
a great mystery novel
is one that is impossibly perplexing
yet when guided through by its author
becomes unbearably obvious when the key is revealed
like a tight slap in the face
that wakes one up from surreality,
where the truth had been obfuscated.
i wonder.
is it a blessing to arrive at the answer near the beginning or at the end?
there's a kind of mystery
in which the weaver deliberately obscures the truth up till the very end
and there is another kind
which is not a mystery essentially
but the attempt of the weaver
to help us understand the truth.
it's the second kind that we're repulsed by somehow
for there is something that draws us to what is forbidden
what is dangled before us yet out of reach
but when a man is desperate to convince us what is true
we are immediately filled with a sense of superiority
at our absolute power over the other
we revel in the ability to reject what is put forth as truth by another
not realizing that when we do so
the joke might somehow be on us
sometimes we're so adept in the art of lying
or so aware and intrigued by the acts of lying which we applaud
that lying becomes so interwoven with reality
lies must be a necessary means to what is true
truth consists of lies
or perhaps we tell ourselves, there is no truth. only pain.
one masters the art of lying so wonderfully
and enters the game of lying unknowingly
that unbeknownst to him
he is constantly rationalizing his actions with groundless reassurances
or perhaps he is aware
but he chooses not to be.
the trick to the art of lying
is that there is an audience
that really wants to be deluded.
0. oOo
