Truth or Illusion? Illusion is an incomplete perception of truth. Some people have asked me how I came up with "Whatever Love Wants" and the meaning behind same. When the fantasy world people create in order to cope with the absurdity of life is brought too far into reality, it becomes hard to distinguish between authenticity and fiction. This ambiguity is apparent in Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf (and in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House.)
GEORGE: (Moves a little toward the door, smiling slightly) All right, love ... whatever love wants. Just don't start on the bit, that's all.
MARTHA: The bit?
Over the years I have been disillusioned by people telling lies (see Loser Boy posts), or twisting the truth, in order to manipulate people’s thinking. People who lie have some kind of agenda which is frequently self-serving, and they will do whatever they can to fulfill that agenda. Truth is a perception of depth in which we perceive more of what is there, while illusion is a superficial perception of reality.
Throughout Albee's play, illusion seems indistinguishable from reality. I agree with him that a life of illusion is wrong because it creates a false content for life. However, for some people, reality lacks any deeper meaning, and to them love and hate are two parts of a single whole.
An excellent example of someone fearing the truth is my cousin. Hence, his need to lie all the time. He should tell the truth for once in his life, and do his penance by laying out his flaws and weaknesses for all to see. But, if he were to do so, he would be exposing himself to reality, and how the track on which his thoughts run is not completely coincident with reality. There is definitely something wrong with someone who feels the need to lie compulsively more often than not. Who am I to judge? I believe in right and wrong, that there are some absolutes - I have no patience for self-righteous moralists. I don't pass judgment on people or the decisions they make unless their decisions hurt others. Loser Boy finally got his comeuppance for having hurt many people.
He cheated on his wife. His infidelity affected not only his wife, but it will have a long-lasting affect on his children. He is drowning in a sea of loneliness, personal alienation, and has been on a misguided journey seeking to find solace in sex. His acts are just a past-time, a punch-line, a battle-station in some strange, unpleasant, jostling for dominance and relevance. His idea of romantic love has become tangled with isolation and computer-assisted fantasy, his sex-capades have become as mundane as sweating. He is a serial philanderer ... He wishes he were still married so that he could continue to present a falsely happy facade. His collection of nightmares based on his lies are many -- assault & battery, identity theft, fake-a-call-app (which led to a 'wrongful' arrest), food terrorism, animal cruelty, etc. It's enough to make your stomach turn ...
He suffers from persecution mania, delusions of grandeur (oh, his delusions of grandeur, and the grandeur of his delusions!), projection and narcissism (among other illnesses). He is a narcissist alright ... Narcissists project their inadequacies, shortcomings, behaviors, etc. onto others to avoid facing up to their inadequacies. Projection is achieved through blame, criticism and allegation. Every criticism, allegation, etc. that the narcissist makes about their target is actually an admission or revelation about themselves. When the allegations are of financial or sexual impropriety, it is likely that the narcissist has committed these acts. If he makes an allegation of abuse, it is likely he has committed the abuse.
Until he is able to face the truth about his life, he will never find happiness. I used to believe that the umbilical chord was never severed between Loser Boy and his mommie dearest. Unfortunately, I was wrong -- he has remained an embryo ...
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