A lullaby goes;
Go to sleep, little baby.
And when you wake,
You shall have a cake,
And all the pretty little ponies.
All the pretty little ponies. All the pretty little horses. just go to sleep..
An old friend was chatting with me, while we sat in an old coffee shop. We’re talking about propaganda, we’re talking about people’s desire for simple things to listen to and believe in and hold onto. And he was pointing out to me a fatal flaw of mine, that of overcomplicating the truth.
Why is it that a simple lie may find more currency than a truth expressed in complicated terms?
Pain and pleasure. We avoid what causes pain. And oh, our lives are full of such dull sorrows and pains. And we yearn for those simple pleasures, we work and toil and then go home to our toys. Our drugs. Our booze. Our porn. Our sex. Our food.
Our TV. And it tells us such simple little things.
And then we go to sleep, and this we yearn for intensely.
**
Simple words soothe the mind and soul. Whether they are true or false. Complicated things ache the mind and soul.
Here is a power of persuasion, he or she who can master their words is not necessarily someone who uses pretty words, and high concepts expressed in high terms.
George Orwell and Winston Churchill both pointed out, about effective communication, that simple words penetrate the most.
So, if you want to speak or write truth, do yourself and others a favor and “keep it simple stupid,” as the saying goes.
Don’t get too artsy about it, is it about your ‘self expression‘ or is it about communicating a message?
Of course, a prerequisite is to actually know the truth. Much of the time we think we know the truth, a truth that we are aching and burning to tell the world, but we don’t really know the whole truth, or even an adequate part of it.
**
Sometimes what we think is true or think we know isn’t so. And sometimes, those truths that we think are in our deepest selves, are actually things whispered in our ears while we’re going to sleep..
While dreaming of pretty little horses.
EOF