On Beliefs and Perceptions ..

Lies –

Lots have been written about body language in the detection of lies. Isn’t inconsistency the true hallmark of lies? That is, if you believe there are no perfect lies or, liars. And that lies can ultimately be just as revealing as truth can be. As Christie had so rightly pointed out in one of her books –

For in the long run, either through a lie, or through truth, people were bound to give themselves away.

Closed-Ended –

Imagine being asked a personal question where you immediately realize that the enquirer has already decided upon a narrow and closed set of options in his/her mind; and is only trying to validate/eliminate each such option with you, so as to be able to reach a definite conclusion.

Real life outcomes may be a result of many intertwined stories. As human beings, wherever we lack real-life exposure, we are prone to over-simplifying – as when trying to trace back the one visible result to one of our preconceived and handful set of "obvious" possible causes – thereby grossly undermining the role, the impact, and the sheer diversity of stories possible.

Negative Role Models –

They serve us by being a living model and a stark reminder of everything we don’t want to be in our lives, and to teach us of what we can be or, become in spite of them. In the wise words of Khalil Gibran –

I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.

Appearances –

We do realize that two extremely opposite things may appear the same. After all, that is what we call deception – the fake tries to imitate the real, and hence it’s only natural that it will assume the appearance of the real. Perhaps a more important realization, however, is that dangerously, the opposite is possible too – for the real to have the appearance of the fake; simply because the fake has imitated too far, leaving the real behind in the game – for we may not know what the real in any given circumstance looks like, and may consider the "more" to be the "real".

Originally posted by me on LinkedIn.