Friday Philosophy

Deception

Who had deceived thee so often as thyself? 

                                   Benjamin Franklin

Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.

                                    Mark Twain

Deception has a received a bad rap over time.
We immediately go to Iago's evil manipulations of Othello, but Shakespeare knew its full value. He put it to comic effect with the misunderstandings between lovers in Midsummer Night's Dream, and the tongue in cheek philosophizing by the gatekeeper in Macbeth. No, deception serves a useful purpose, smoothing over the bumps in our lives and making life in general more manageable.

¨     Where would we or the fashion industry be without it, without the smoke and mirrors of cosmetics, hair styles, or more importantly, Spanks?

¨     Mystery writers would suddenly have to begin sifting through childhood memories when they're forced to turn to memoir writing and romance novels would be reduced to short stories.    

¨     On the plus side, teachers would finally be able to stop speaking in code during parent conferences - "lack of focus" can become "has the attention span of a hyperactive flea," and "enthusiastic participation" turns into "never shuts up".

Of course honesty is the healthy route. We can't deny away a torn rotator cuff or a mislaid electric bill. The truth will out.

But sometimes we need deception in our dialogues with ourselves. Without any harm to anyone, I can tell myself that certainly I can lose those winter-induced 6 pounds, that agent will of course get back to me about my book, and this is the year the squirrels won't eat all the peaches on our tree.

It's called optimism.