I begin by defining its contours: what are lies, truth, and reality? Then, drawing on the ideas of Nietzsche (1844-1900) and Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), I examine how lying can embellish reality, while Hans Vaihinger (1852–1933) presents it as a necessary tool for understanding the world. Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007), on the other hand, invites us to see it as a bridge between the real and the imaginary.
The essay continues with the rediscovery of Liart, a little-known French artistic movement from the 1970s, born in Paris during the Cold War in reaction to propaganda and media manipulation.
I then share my experience of a week-long training at l’École Nationale d’Administration (ENA) under the guidance of coach David Crookall, author of Communication and Simulation (1989), before concluding with an interview with a former mythomaniac who claimed to have found a miraculous formula to eliminate all the waste on Earth.
Finally, in a closing chapter devoted to truth, doubt takes over. Gradually, the boundary between reality and fiction fades. I become lost in my own lies, questioning even language itself—the origin of lies, as it reduces and confines thought.
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