Negotiating with Reality

The thing that separates truth from non-truth (different from untruth) is that for some claim to be true or false, the matter of the claim must manifest in some directly observable form. Given that, the claim may be "true" only if you observe that the relations described by the claim always manifest in a way that's consistent with what the claim asserts.

The opposite is untruth. A claim may be false (untrue) if you observe the matter of the claim manifests in a way that's inconsistent with what it asserts.

Then there's non-truth. Things that cannot be true or false. Matters of claims which do not manifest in some directly observable form. The realest non-truths are abstractions over things are true (which you can directly observe). The unrealest non-truths are incoherent delusions.

Something really interesting happens you're explicit about distinguishing how you relate emotionally to truths v.s. non-truths.

Here are some things that can be true:

• I've made a lot more money the past few months
• I left that party in a good mood
• I missed the deadline
• The idea I had didn't work
• I said something that didn't resonate with that person, and then I felt embarassed
• My heart rate is a lot higher than normal right now
• The past few times I've tried to do that, it took me a long time and I felt like I struggled a lot

And some things that can't be true:

• People don't like me
• I'm nervous
• I'll never be able to give a big speech

Matters of truth/untruth are non-negotiable. You can't change whether such claims are true or false, you can only change the claims.

Everything else, non-truths, abstractions over reality, are negotiable. They're the matters of our self-esteem, how we relate to others or our work, where we tend to feel emotional.