The Latin phrase, “Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur” is a good one to know and understand. It means “The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived.” The connection between this old saying and your situation should be obvious. Both deal with deception and the desire to be deceived. Manipulative cheaters often learn how to put this phrase into action. They know that you want to believe that there is no affair, so they let you believe that there is not an affair. Sometimes they blatantly lie, other times, they make ambiguous statements that allow you to deceive yourself about the affair. Since they did not lie to you, they do not feel so guilty. They just allowed you to believe what you wanted to believe. They allowed you to trick yourself.
Truth often brings responsibility with it. When you know the truth, you often have to take some form of action. With deception, you do not have to exercise responsibility. Believing the deception is also the easy way out. The twist is that your gut probably told you that things were ‘not right.’ Rather than listen to your gut, you instead over rode it, and believed the deception. You wanted to believe what they told you, since you want to believe it, your mind makes the deception more plausible than the truth. In a way, you create your own reality, and in this case, your reality is the one made up of deception.
One of the reasons that old Latin sayings continue being used is that they often convey some truth about life and people. The author of this one realized that not only do the people want to believe the deception, it is often a lot of work trying to convince them of the truth. It is so much work that it is easier to allow them to go on living with their deception.
Instead of choosing to continue living with deception, consider the option of the truth. The saying “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free” will have new meaning for you.
Best Regards,
Jeff Murrah
