The Human Contract and the Death of Truth

Often what we call “truth” is nothing more than a contract between humans. A handshake in the herd: say this, agree to that, and we will all belong together.

This is not a leap into postmodern relativism. I am not suggesting truth does not exist. That road of clever arguments leads nowhere, as it always has.

There is truth, but only for those brave enough to look for it. And the social contract of humanity, more often than not, gets in the way.

This contract is not designed for exploration, but for safety. The sheep do not ask whether the shepherd is honest; they follow because following is survival. And so we, too, accept half-truths, soft lies, and comforting stories.

Here we should name it clearly: these are not truths, but bondlies, lies we knowingly accept, not to deceive others, but to hold the bond together. The yearning for belonging disguised as reality.

But bondlies have a cost. They keep us stuck in sheep mode. They make us confuse consensus with clarity, comfort with reality, and belonging with truth.

The difficult thinker, the heretic, the truth-teller, these are cast out. They are both dangerous and necessary, because they dare to see beyond the contract, beyond the bondlie, into truth itself.

And that is the only way the path of the herd can ever expand.