ESCAPE FROM TRUTH Timidity and Passivity Lead to Defeat, Courage is the Path to Victory!

Written by: Psychologist Isa Pašalić

In psychiatry, an illusion is defined as a false belief resulting from some form of internal or external deception.

In trauma work, we often find that a person harbors certain beliefs about themselves or about the social situation that they are unable to consider or view differently. Any attempt to approach these beliefs with the aim of making the person consider or change them is met with significant resistance and inner turmoil. This is not the natural resistance that arises from the need to defend one's own position, but rather resistance that appears as a need for the person to protect their apparent stability, whether internal or external.

In cases of traumatization, creating illusions is a protective mechanism tasked with keeping the person away from a certain truth that was, at some point, overwhelming for that person.

Through the mechanism of illusion, a person subconsciously places a barrier between themselves and the problem, a problem that actually exists, a problem that is the truth.

However, the unwanted effect of fleeing from this pain through the mechanism of illusion is that we do not actually solve the problem this way. The problem we refuse to face only grows over time, changes its form and intensity, and does not disappear through suppression and hiding.

In one of the previous texts, we spoke about truth and how important it is to inherit truth for both the psychological and social state of an individual, as well as for the state of society as a whole.

In this case, the problem we cover with illusion is the truth—it is the real state and feeling we carry within us. The only way to get rid of it is to accept it and see what lesson it can offer us.

The biggest problems of a psychological, but also physiological nature, that plague a person arise as a result of the mechanisms of illusion or the mechanism of escape from reality. When we allow ourselves to face the inner truth, we also enable ourselves to be freed from what we had previously seen as an illness or problem.

Everything we notice on an individual level can also be applied on a collective level. Society as a whole also has its collective trauma and inability to face a problem, compensating through the mechanism of escape from it. However, as with individuals, in order to expect the burden to be lifted from society's shoulders, we must inherit the courage to face it.

Courage in facing the truth is what sets us free. Our obligation as individuals and as a society is to be steadfast in the ability to allow truth to penetrate our reality, thereby losing the need to flee from it.

Timidity and passivity are comfortable, but they inevitably bring defeat and weakness. Courage is painful, but only with courage comes victory and relief. It is ours to choose.