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But it's not enough to understand how you have been deceived by others.
You are complicit in your own deception. It's the besetting sin of sapience.
There are many intelligent creatures in the multiverse which are not truly sapient because they do not possess the capacity to imagine that things can be different from the way they are. They can pick up a stick or a rock and use it as a tool, but they do not invent tools. They can convey information to one another, but they only tell the truth. Some of us look at these beings and believe that they are superior to us because they do not lie.
The capacity to lie is what makes us people.
In order to lie, you must be able to imagine a world in which things that you know to be true are untrue. You must be able to see the world as it is, and also as it ought to be. Creativity, imagination, and deception come from the same place.
We deceive each other and ourselves every day. The choice you must make is which set of lies you will accept as your truth. Our lord Megatron tells us to look through the lies and see the harsh truth, to be aware of the unsheathed blades in our hands and the corpses that pave our streets. It would be wrong to lose sight of these things, but we must also believe that things can be different.
When you tell your conjunx you will never leave them, you know that death will take one of you from the other, and so this is a lie. But it is the lie you are choosing to live. You know you will go down with that debt unfulfilled, but it would be more painful to fall owing nothing, with no-one to grieve for you when your spark is finally quenched.
The deceivers in power lie to us and tell us that the way things are is how it must be, while hiding the truth that they are the ones who benefit from these lies, that the way things are now is how they would like it to be.
It is not enough to see the truth and say, "This is a lie! The natural world does not care what becomes of us. We are all going to die alone and hungry! There will always be pain and suffering, because the universe will always be random!"
Surely we can imagine a world that is just. Primus will not give you justice. Primus may or may not love us, but that love does us no good at all. It does not put energon in our tanks. It does not soothe our souls in the dark, while we wait and pray for the ones we love to return to us safe. It is foolish to argue about whether or not Primus exists. Either way, how much has he done for you lately?
What can you do for yourself? What can you do for the people around you?
Our lies will be stronger than their lies, and we can make our lies come true. That is invention. That is revolution. That is love. We will always fall short of our goals, but at least we can say that we tried.
We all deceive ourselves every day. If you are going to deceive yourself, know that you are doing it, and that the untruth you choose to believe is one that you wish to make real.
You are complicit in your own deception. It's the besetting sin of sapience.
There are many intelligent creatures in the multiverse which are not truly sapient because they do not possess the capacity to imagine that things can be different from the way they are. They can pick up a stick or a rock and use it as a tool, but they do not invent tools. They can convey information to one another, but they only tell the truth. Some of us look at these beings and believe that they are superior to us because they do not lie.
The capacity to lie is what makes us people.
In order to lie, you must be able to imagine a world in which things that you know to be true are untrue. You must be able to see the world as it is, and also as it ought to be. Creativity, imagination, and deception come from the same place.
We deceive each other and ourselves every day. The choice you must make is which set of lies you will accept as your truth. Our lord Megatron tells us to look through the lies and see the harsh truth, to be aware of the unsheathed blades in our hands and the corpses that pave our streets. It would be wrong to lose sight of these things, but we must also believe that things can be different.
When you tell your conjunx you will never leave them, you know that death will take one of you from the other, and so this is a lie. But it is the lie you are choosing to live. You know you will go down with that debt unfulfilled, but it would be more painful to fall owing nothing, with no-one to grieve for you when your spark is finally quenched.
The deceivers in power lie to us and tell us that the way things are is how it must be, while hiding the truth that they are the ones who benefit from these lies, that the way things are now is how they would like it to be.
It is not enough to see the truth and say, "This is a lie! The natural world does not care what becomes of us. We are all going to die alone and hungry! There will always be pain and suffering, because the universe will always be random!"
Surely we can imagine a world that is just. Primus will not give you justice. Primus may or may not love us, but that love does us no good at all. It does not put energon in our tanks. It does not soothe our souls in the dark, while we wait and pray for the ones we love to return to us safe. It is foolish to argue about whether or not Primus exists. Either way, how much has he done for you lately?
What can you do for yourself? What can you do for the people around you?
Our lies will be stronger than their lies, and we can make our lies come true. That is invention. That is revolution. That is love. We will always fall short of our goals, but at least we can say that we tried.
We all deceive ourselves every day. If you are going to deceive yourself, know that you are doing it, and that the untruth you choose to believe is one that you wish to make real.
