The good news is that just like pleasure can become pain with repeated use, we can also transform painful activities into pleasant ones with practice. Most of us don’t know this great truth because we are always trying to avoid the painful activities right from the very beginning. We never reach the other side of the pain that is pleasure. The pleasure that comes from enjoying activities, which were painful in the beginning, is indeed true joy.

Truth is important, but myths are equally important because they provide us the illusions that illuminate our lives. Unlike reality, which is to be accepted whether we like it or not, we can choose illusions which are beautiful and serve our purpose. Illusions are made beautiful because they are created to please us while truth is barren and purposeless. Truth is ‘what it is’ but myths are ‘what we want it to be,’ ‘what it can be’ or ‘what it should be’.

Truth is transparent. It is powerless and colourless. It speaks about reality but can’t alter the reality. On the other hand, a lie which is spoken beautifully is powerful enough to alter the reality.

The movies often show an honest and good man winning over evil all the time. The reality is not that simple or one-sided. The fictions of movies and arts perpetuate and exploit our beliefs rather than letting us know the truth.

An unconditioned mind alone is a pure mind which sees the reality without any prejudice. Knowledge of the self, spiritual awakening or self-realisation are the different names given to the unconditioned mind which is pure because it has the ability to see the truth as it is.

Our voice of conscience is the result of our social conditioning, which becomes a ‘learned instinct’. If you feel bad when you lie, it may not be because of the voice of your soul but because you have been taught since your childhood to tell the truth and not to lie. Over the course of time, the need to speak truth sinks into your subconscious mind and become your consciousness and your learned instinct.

Speaking a truth does not need any application of mind or intelligence. A computer always tells the truth, but it has no intelligence. You must have great intelligence to speak beautiful lies.

It is important for us to develop the ability to differentiate between truth and fiction to escape from the darkness of ignorance and be in the light of understanding. Only when we know the truth as it is, we can be free from the illusions of life.

The purpose of history writing has become to glorify the past and inculcate in the mind of every citizen the spirit of nationalism and pride. History is an attempt to visualise the reality of the past from the lenses of today. Every truth of history has to filter through the values of the present to become a part of history.