Is it better to pretend and not know? Or is it better to know?

Pretending to be…

• In control.
• Necessary.
• Resolute.
• Enlightened.
• Fulfilled.
• Judicious.
• Compassionate.

These are Ideals, and based on the reality that surrounds us every day, we are none of these things – not even close – individually or collectively.

So, if reality is absolute – something that exists independently of ideas concerning it – then I would argue that an effort to understand reality (as much as that is possible) and to influence it for Good, is integrity, yet most (and collectively all) of us see this effort to make things better as negativity, and so we abide by a happiness precept that says avoid negativity and we accordingly distance ourselves from integrity.

Humanity. We are a fragile lot, so we decide it is better to pretend and not know than it is to know. Yet ironically, if we decided collectively, in force to know, we would strengthen and improve both collectively and individually.