Saturday, January 26, 2008

Atonement


If lies are prettier than truths, would you still want the truth?

Plato banished the poets from his Utopia because they tell lies. Sidney brings them back because these lies paint a more beautiful truth. The funny thing is (not the DeGeneres' version) that Plato's banishment of liars was really more beautiful that Sidney's defense of them. The truth is more beautiful after all. Or is it?

13 comments:

Alia said...

I wanna see the movie
3indich yah?

& Yes i would still want the truth, although I'm not sure I can handle it :)

shosho said...

If truth is more beautiful than a lie then why are so many people fighting and killing in its name? How can a beautiful just thing trigger so much ugliness and injustice in a way that is not disimilar from a lie? If a lie propegates evil, how can you be so sure that truth would not - given the circumstances - do the same? Isn't truth afterall a lie?

Amethyst said...

Sometimes lies are beautiful, but truth always exceeds them in beauty because it doesn't blind you or make you live falsely.

ValenciaLover said...

You know what is more beautiful than truth or lies? watching that movie. Thanks for recommending & lending it. I really loved it.

White Wings said...

truth is never beautiful but certainly comforting
Plato is a terrorist :)

Shurouq said...

White Wings. Truth does not exist and what we think is true is hardly comforting.

What planet are you from? :P

Shurouq said...

And Hanan. I loved the Plato link.. regardless :)

Everything is Plato.

Kaileena said...

Nope sometimes a lie is more beautiful than the truth but its not an excuse to say it..if the truth is too horrible to bear..hiding it is better than lying about it

Hanan said...

alia. My copy's with nabila.

shoshoYes. It's all a lie really :s

amethyst. Isn't that too romantically idealistic? :)

valencia. Glad you enjoyed. Now give to Alia.

white wings And you'd be fine with being comforted with a lie?

shuroq You're such a skeptic :)

kaileena Hiding the truth is some sort of a lie as well.

Now back to being skeptical. Atonement was made by writing a book that fantasizes a happier ending for two people whose lives were ruined because of a lie. So a lie was created again, to make up for that lie that lead to their misery. Twisted, isn't it? Basically to be forgiven for lying, our author lied yet again, in her new work of fiction.
YUP. Shuroq. You are so write. Everything is Plato :) Poets are indeed liar.

Amethyst said...

I'd rather have the painful truth than be lied to;\

Is that too romantically idealistic?

White Wings said...

shurouq
i am speaking of minor, maybe personal truths, knowing them and shaping your life accordingly should be comforting even if in a sad way..
as for universal truths, if they exist as you said, then there is nothing comforting there...scary abyss :)
hanan
no, i am saying i'm comforted by the truth however ugly it is...
although your brother telling me i am the most beautiful woman in the world does not hurt any one :) and it could, just could be a lie..minor one :)

Hanan said...

amethyst. LOL How would I know? I'm a pessimist and a cynic anyway :)

white wings. So for your own pleasure you make a liar out of my brother? Interesting. Women do lead men out of Heaven after all.

hammoodee said...

ur point is similar to that line "sometimes the solution is worse than the problem"