Vaclav Havel’s quotation comes from a 1978 essay entitled “The Power of the Powerless” that urged the Czechoslovakian people to nonviolently resist the government. The essay provided the theoretical underpinnings for the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989 in which the communist-led government was deposed without firing a shot.

While Havel’s words were aimed primarily for his people and Eastern Europe generally, he also presciently observed that the tendency to “live a lie” was also an issue the West had to face:

“Is it not true that the far-reaching adaptability to living a lie and the effortless spread of social auto-totality have some connection with the general unwillingness of consumption-oriented people to sacrifice some material certainties for the sake of their own spiritual and moral integrity? With their willingness to surrender higher values when faced with the trivializing temptations of modern civilization? With their vulnerability to the attractions of mass indifference? And in the end, is not the grayness and the emptiness of life in the post-totalitarian system only an inflated caricature of modern life in general? And do we not in fact stand (although in the external measures of civilization, we are far behind) as a kind of warning to the West, revealing to its own latent tendencies?”

More than 25 years later here in the United States we can see these tendencies are no longer latent. Our national purpose is consumption (“economic growth”) and you only need to look at burgeoning debt, dumps and waistlines to know it is true. The system of lies (“marketing”) that drives this consumption is so pervasive that it is almost impossible to avoid for the typical American. Sadly, the lies are used not only to push material consumption, but are also now a requirement for political campaigns and promotion of spirituality.

So this is a call to Start Living the Truth. Stop rationalizing and justifying a system that is morally and spiritually bankrupt. The lies aren’t that hard to spot if you are willing to break old habits and start questioning all the assumptions that are being passed off as given truths.

I cannot tell you what “the Truth” is for you, but I can suggest a few ways that might help you find it:

1. Ignore the mass media, especially TV.
2. Stay out of corporate superstores; support locally owned businesses instead.
3. Grow a garden, cook homemade meals, sew your clothes, or find other ways to minimize your participation in media-driven consumption.
4. Get involved in community groups that are helping others or share your goals of improving the community and the world.
5. Improve your health by walking or bicycling both near and far.
6. Do something unexpected and nice for someone else.
7. Seek out activities that expose you to different cultures and ways of living.

Don’t worry about trying to do everything on this list (better yet, make your own list) and stop feeling guilty about not being able to do more.

© 2005 Mark C. Davis • Page Last Updated December 28, 2006