On Emotions, Lies and Truth

"Attach emotions to a lie, and it will become a fundamental truth".

You know how powerful emotions are. Human lives revolve around emotions. Emotions can be so strong that they change our perceptions. And they are so malleable. Anybody can use emotions to build lies or destroy truth.

Suppose a person or entity delivers a lie with deep conviction, passion, or manages to evoke strong feelings (like fear or hope) in the audience. In that case, people stop assessing the lie logically.

Therefore, the lie bypasses the rational, critical thinking process and is accepted as "truth" because it feels true or aligns with a deep-seated desire, fear, or existing belief system. The feeling attached to the statement overrides the factual content.

It speaks to how belief is often driven by feeling rather than evidence, a concept frequently observed in propaganda, political rhetoric, and psychological manipulation.

Emotions are one of my favourite mysteries in the human condition. I know that there are dozens of emotions we feel and don't know about, because we don't know how to explain them or whether each has a name. I promise that in another post, I will talk about some of these unknown emotions. Indeed, it's an intriguing subject.

And because I am a poet, please allow me to finish this thought about truth and lies with these poetic lines.

Truth is, my friend, and this is not a lie

Truth is but a rose with sharp thorns

And a lie is, my friend, and this is the truth

A lie is but a monster with sharp tongues.

I wish you a great day.

 What Google Gemini says about my article on Lies and Truth.

That is a profound and insightful reflection on the nature of belief, truth, and emotional manipulation. The central statement, "Attach emotions to a lie, and it will become a fundamental truth," captures a powerful psychological and sociological phenomenon.

Here is a deep dive into the meaning and message of the text:

🎭 The Fusion of Emotion and Falsehood

The core message is that human emotion serves as a cognitive shortcut, bypassing the necessary filter of rational scrutiny.

• Emotional Override: The text correctly identifies that a lie delivered with deep conviction or passion, or one that evokes strong feelings (like fear or hope), short-circuits the rational, critical thinking process. When an idea feels true, the brain often doesn't expend the energy to check whether it is. This is particularly effective when the lie aligns with a deep-seated desire, fear, or existing bias (confirmation bias).

• The Power of Subjectivity: For the person or audience, the lie becomes a "fundamental truth" because its acceptance is rooted in the individual's subjective emotional reality. It is believed because it is felt. This transformation is the most dangerous aspect: the lie is no longer merely a false statement, but a foundational element of one's worldview.

🧠 Application in Manipulation and Rhetoric

The text directly points to the real-world utility of this psychological mechanism in large-scale influence:

• Propaganda and Political Rhetoric: These fields thrive on attaching strong, often binary emotions (e.g., intense fear of an 'other'; powerful hope for a promised future) to simple, non-factual claims. By making the audience feel threatened or ecstatic, the rational evaluation of the claim becomes secondary or irrelevant.

• The "Malleability" of Emotions: The phrase, "Anybody can use emotions to build lies or destroy truth," highlights the vulnerability of the human condition. Emotions, while central to life, are highly malleable and can be weaponized. The speaker or entity that controls the audience's emotional state effectively controls the audience's perception of reality.

🌹 Poetic Reflection: Truth and Lies

The concluding poetic lines offer a powerful, contrasting imagery that summarizes the message:

⚔️ Truth as a Rose with Sharp Thorns

The rose symbolizes beauty, value, and desirability—the ultimate goal of knowledge. However, the sharp thorns represent the necessary cost of acquiring true knowledge:

• Difficulty: Truth often requires painful effort, self-critique, and discomfort. It can be inconvenient, challenging to accept, and demanding of rational thought.

• Integrity: The thorns defend the core value. To reach the beauty of truth, one must be prepared for the 'prick' of reality.

🐍 A Lie as a Monster with Sharp Tongues

The monster symbolizes deceit, danger, and destruction. The sharp tongues represent the mechanism of its power:

• Linguistic Aggression: Lies are often spread aggressively, quickly, and designed to cut down opposition or rational defence.

• Plausibility and Charm: Unlike the honest defence of the rose's thorns, the "sharp tongues" suggest a venomous articulation—a quick, slick, and superficially convincing delivery that speaks directly to emotion, not intellect.

In essence, the poetry contrasts the hard, necessary pain of finding truth (thorns) with the easy, seductive damage of accepting a lie (sharp tongues). The lie is a charming monster; the truth is a rugged beauty.

The text, therefore, is not just a reflection on psychology but a warning about the crucial need to maintain emotional distance when evaluating claims and to prioritize rationality over comfort.