Examining Our Relationship with Truth

All around us, in any type of media, there is ample evidence of public opinion being bent in particular directions, required by some entity be it government, corporations, or other interest groups. This reality of having at best a contradictory relationship with truth, affects us as individuals and affects the culture of our organizations.

In general, people do not like to hear about the fact that we collectively accept a lot of illusion. When more than one person accepts illusion as fact, we get co-illusion, shortened into collusion. Despite collusion being frowned upon, and most people would quickly say that collusion is outside of the realm of their moral compass, they participate in collusion probably daily. We collectively accept half truths, falsehoods, and direct lies. Avoiding truths allows us to bend reality to suit ourselves, possibly to give us a sense of security. It must have something to do with security because it is so challenging to shift people towards truth, as though their security is threatened.

Many years ago, together with a friend, I started the Dead Moose Society. we discussed the importance of living our truth, with good heads, good hearts, and extending care and compassion out into the world. We then talked about the hazards associated with living this way. What happens when collusion (co-illusion) is named?

What happens when a truth that everyone knows about but no one ever talks about (except for
parking lot gossip) is named? What happens when truth surfaces?

At first glance, the answer would seem that the air gets cleared and life goes on better that
before. Our historical collective experience has told us that this is not so. It is more common that the truth teller comes to harm, is targeted for harm somehow. We have witnessed people being quite angry at the person who brings about truth being brought out.

So…we identified that all of this was like having a dead moose under the table. Everyone
knows it’s there, it smells, maybe has gathered flies, is sickening, but no one wants to say the
obvious. The purpose of the Dead Moose Society is to get the Dead Moose on the table wherever we can, and to support each other in efforts to do so. So, we had a lot of fun in creating this Dead Moose Society and used our humor to address a very important topic.

An important question still relevant today is, in our organizations, is truth a commodity whose time has come? Is it a necessary good that we individually and collectively will need to embrace? If you answer ‘yes’, please consider working the Genuine Contact way and nourishing a culture of leadership.

Photo by Randy Jacob on Unsplash