I think you hit the head on the hammer, or the hammer on the head of the nail, or something like that, in your last paragraph.

I cringe whenever I see the word “myth” used interchangeably with the word “lie.” It devalues the power of myth and its role throughout the story of humanity.

A discussion of truth is always a hot one. As I see it there is only one truth: some thing that is irreducible. All else is in the world of ideas that are infected by the mind. When a person swears to tell the truth in a court of law, know it or not, he is lying, because there is no truth in what anyone says; there is only relativity. To an eyewitness, or even a thousand eyewitnesses, it may be true that an old man was robbed on the corner of Main and 1st Avenue, but to someone in a rice patty across the world there is no truth to this event.

What, then, is this irreducible truth? It seems that both physicists and mystics have uncovered the same answer, one group by way of mathematics and the other by way of observation. I am of the latter group, having observed my own sense of self to the point of getting beyond it, and then further to get beyond consciousness and thought. Eventually if you go on like this you come to something that is often called space, but that’s not really totally accurate. But it’s close. You come to nothingness out of which all else emanates.

I am not so sure that this truth is important to most people. The concept of truth — a concept that differs greatly from what I described above — is used very often as a matter of convenience. For example, I have read right wing, uninformed people argue by repeating the trope, “Do your research…” What they mean by research is finding something that agrees with their point of view, even if fabricated by some miscreant with an ulterior motive to manipulate and deride others to push some agenda. No intellectually honest person will disagree that Donald Trump’s rantings and ramblings are truthful, yet tens of millions accept them as if they are. This is in a world where each religion claims to have the only one true God and every cult claims to offer the only one true way to enlightenment.

While plenty of religious people refer to their teachings as the truth, there is no way to prove their claims. Using scripture to make a point or “prove” what truth is is so absurd that to any logical person that it’s a waste of time trying to engage in intelligent discussion.

Truth has nothing to do with God, religion, or the ideas of human beings. And it has nothing to do with perspective or perception, because truth that is so dependent cannot be truth simply because it will vary from perceiver to perceiver.

There is only one thing that is “irreducible,” which also implies that it never changes, never lives, and never dies. Since this is not what people generally mean by truth, society has accepted ersatz truth.

You ask why people so interested in truth (at least seemingly, and sometimes) will also relish fiction. (And I would include religious teachings in this class of fiction.) The answer is complex. On one hand there is the logical mind and on the other hand is the mind that desires emotional stimulation.It’s been said that human beings are story-lovers. So there is something that moves us that has nothing to do with facts or logic. We want our fantasy and we need our myths. Why is this? One reason is that this world is a scary, confusing, senseless place full of unwanted surprises and persistent change. This rattles and unsettles the sense of self that tries its darnedest to find (or create) a sense of security and control.

Fiction can pull the mind away from its problems, and the mind is all about engaging in distractions, not only to get through the problems of life, but also to keep from turning inward to discover its own flaws and conflicts. And I would include in this genre of fiction the examples that you used regarding telling lies to make someone feel better or to cover up one’s actual feelings.

It may be argued that truth is something that actually occurred or occurs or will occur. But I would argue that this is not truth; it is perception based on relativity. So be it, but we call it truth anyway. That which is irreducible is not up for debate because it exists prior to ideas, discussion, philosophy, science, relativity, duality, thought, movement, and perspective.