David McElroy

I got a handwritten note from a friend last week. She had to drop something off for me, so she included several paragraphs of updates about her family.

The note was newsy and seemingly happy, but my gut told me she wasn’t doing well. Some tiny whisper in my mind told me to pay attention to a few words that didn’t quite fit with the rest. And then I suddenly knew — without knowing why — that my friend was miserably unhappy. She was stressed and crumbling inside, despite all the happy talk.

I picked up the phone and called her. I told her that I could tell she’s not doing well and that she was hiding what stress was doing to her. I asked what I could do to help.

“How did you know?!” she asked in a tone of shock. “The people I work with think I’m fine. My family thinks I’m fine. You hardly ever talk to me, so how did you know this about me? You’re right, but how did you know?”

The answer to that is complicated. I don’t read minds. I’m not a psychic. But I do read subtle clues from other people, especially in person. Nobody purposely taught me this skill. In fact, the way I learned was very unhealthy. But it’s a skill that all children need to learn.

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Tonight I’m gonna break away
Just you wait and see
I’ll never be imprisoned by
A faded memory
— Rusty Young (for Poco), “Crazy Love”

I almost always believe my own lies. I’ve lived inside this mind for long enough to know better. But I still fall for my own clever tricks.

I try not to lie to other people. I was raised to be a good liar, so I certainly know how, but I know it’s wrong. It know it hurts others. I even know it hurts me in the long run. Every now and then, I trap myself into a situation when it’s easier to lie — but I struggle to stay truthful with others. I usually win that moral battle.

I have no scruples about lying to myself, though. The conscience that speaks so loudly when I’m tempted to mislead others completely disappears when it comes to myself. And even though I’m usually insightful enough to suspect when others are lying, I’m a gullible child when it comes to my own lies.

There’s a war that goes on inside me. Different parts of me want different things. Each part of me is certain that he knows what’s best for me. It works that way for you, too, even though you’re convinced there’s one united “you” in there.

And when one part of me wants what it wants — in defiance of everything which the rational parts of me know is best — that part of me lies.

I lie to myself about my feelings. I lie about my future. I lie about money. I lie about what I’m going to eat. But most of all, I lie to myself about love.

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I’ve always liked things that were easy. One of my dark secrets is that I’ve often run from challenges.

What I see now is that the things that were easy — many of which people praised me for — fed my ego and nothing more. The only things I’ve done that still matter to me were those things that were difficult. My ego was inflated when I’ve taken the easy way. I’ve grown in more healthy ways when I’ve forced myself to accomplish things which required a lot of effort.

Taking the path of least resistance is a losing strategy in the long run, for a person or for a society. It makes you lazy. It makes you passive. And it leaves you living a fantasy life which is brittle — a life which falls apart when reality inevitably puts a real challenge in your way.

I’ve been thinking about all this lately as various companies rush to create simulated worlds. To make it simple, I’m going to refer to all of those worlds collectively as the “Metaverse,” which is what Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg calls his version.

Whatever name you use for it, these fake worlds are ultimately unhealthy for individuals and for society. A simulated world is good for only a simulated life. In an increasingly fake and passive world, we need more real-life thinking and participation. We don’t need more digital imitations of life that turn us into passive spectators stuffing our faces with snacks as we wander through a fake world.

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