Ever since the Garden of Eden there have been no shortage of accounts of human deceit. Cain told God that he didn’t know where his brother is. Abraham keeps lying about his wife. Even some of our most famous heroes of history have some white lies up their sleeves. Today, it seems, to be a president or a congressman, or even a lowly mayor, one must carefully manipulate the flow of information in ones own favor. In other words, deceive.
I was thinking about this as I was reading about one of my casual indulgences. You see, I enjoy reading physics articles. The official stuff sometimes, but I especially enjoy the crank physics. I’ll refer to it as crank-science, pseudo-science, non-science, or even faux-science… but however realistic my expectations are from it I also enjoy reading about it. It’s like a comic book, and there are lots of very entertaining stories. I would share a few, but I realize that my taste is an acquired one, and I’m sure the humor may be a bit lost on pretty much anyone else.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former. – Albert Einstein
That quote is the basis of much of the humor. The absurdly gigantic puzzles that cranks create to confuse themselves are hilarious, and it seems the more ingenious a crank is the more complex his puzzle. Then unraveling the puzzle brings even more entertainment. I must admit I’m not great at unraveling so many of them. They are fun to look at nonetheless.
In the world of crank-science there are a handful of folks that are what I would call “dead honest”. They say what they think, think what they say, and harbor little to no guile whatsoever. They are quite fun to discuss ideas with and in most cases they seem somewhat immune to the delusion that makes the more deceitful cranks so humorous.
I would call them Truth Seekers. Where the deceivers avoid debate & shade nearly every statement in secrecy. As they maintain a pompous I-know-something-you-don’t-know attitude. While they proclaim much too often a lie that they have discovered something new…. The Truth Seekers are quite the opposite in every way. They welcome & crave debate, being wrong only leads to being right. Convincing people of a lie will only lead to folly multiplied. They pour more information out on the table than anyone even asked for. Underneath their anxious excitement they really are humble & quite willing to confess that anyone @ any moment could say something profound. Finally, they very often will downplay their own ideas rather than hype them… You see the Truth Seeker sees the world differently than the deceiver. They know that the entire population can believe a lie, and that even for eternity, but a lie is still a lie no matter how many believe it. The truth doesn’t require secrets, defense, or clever debate. It stands on its own and remains true no matter what the majority believes. Truth is just plain truth & lies are just plain lies and the former is superior in ALL ways. So the Truth Seeker chooses the superior quest.
Truth Seekers will necessarily appear foolish sometimes, as their inability to keep secrets is also an inability to sculptor their reputation. They will have more stamina than most folks because they know their prey is illusive and requires more commitment than the alternative. The Truth Seeker doesn’t mind appearing foolish so long as they are not deceived. The ability to avoid deception is a trait of a Truth Seeker as well as the ability to tell the truth. However, to their fault, they often may naively expect others to share their values. When they do, they can be rather naive. It’s their trust that will be their downfall, when any theory is stated as theory they are most likely to succeed at finding the truth of it. When a theory is presented as fact they may, for some finite period of time, take your word for it. Assuming you would have done your due diligence before proclaiming something to be true. Fool them once, and you should be ashamed… They won’t likely make that mistake twice.
And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. -Matthew 5:36-37
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