The Fragmenting of Human Speech: The Loss of Truth. (Part 1 of 2)

Freedom of speech is being insidiously diluted by the introduction of false blogs, fake news, and downright and outright lying under the seeming protection that no one has the right to challenge whether the creators are right or not. Gone is the measuring stick of absolute Truth, diluted by the constant and flagrant posting of television and streaming videos that publish blatantly false content with impunity.

The problem is, and always has been twofold. What is good and what is evil. Who determines what is good and what is fraudulent? This is the strangulation of Truth, which is protected by the very laws and social politics it seeks to neutralize. Make no mistake about it. Diabolical forces use gullible humans to advance an invisible agenda that seeks to substitute absolute law from God to humans with the frackuous confusion of tongues and ideas. Factioning is fashionable in the secular world, not unity.

God has generously set boundaries for humans through the Ten Commandments, serving as principles to help rescue humanity from believing that only human laws are to be respected, rather than the Beatitudes or the prescriptions of the Old Testament prophets.

The Catholic Church, as it always has, sets before the eyes of the faithful not a series of laws to be obeyed unthinkingly, but principles that allow freedom from the tyranny of rationalism. Factioning, as used recently by the SSPX (Society of St. Pius X), is when individuals think that they possess the Truth and that, by declaring a set of manifestos (as did Martin Luther), the Magisterium fits into their views of tradition. Imagine the whole of the Catholic Universal tradition for twenty centuries being asked to fit into the agenda of one or two individuals, or they will succeed in seceding from the union.

Read I Corinthians 1:10. “I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.”

Context & Meaning

• The Problem: The Corinthian Church had fractured into rival groups, with members fiercely aligning themselves with different leaders (e.g., Paul, Apollos, or Cephas/Peter) instead of remaining centered on Christ. [1, 2]
• The Core Message: Paul isn’t demanding uniform opinions on every topic, but rather a fundamental unity of faith and charity. He appeals directly to the authority of Jesus Christ, reminding them that the Christian community should be bound together in harmony rather than torn apart by egos or personal preferences. [1, 2]

What follows are some meditations I have, Truth on Truth, which I share with you to raise your awareness of the titanic battle underway and of how, if Catholics do nothing, we deserve what we get. “If you always do what you always did, then you will always get what you always got.” Wake up. Do something, just one thing, to make the world more humanistic and to stop the spiraling of Truth into pan-rationalism.

Here are my thoughts as organized with the help of AI.

“The Catechism of the Catholic Church frames the Eighth Commandment not just as a rule against Lying, but as a defense of Truth, which originates in God. Viewing deception purely through the lens of modern rationalism or self-preservation strips it of its spiritual reality.

When deception is reduced to an intellectual game or tools for self-idolatry, it denies a fundamental truth: human beings are made in the image of God, who is Truth itself. Deception isolates the self, corrupts human relationships, and treats others as objects to be manipulated rather than souls to be loved.

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The First Three Commandments: Love of God

1. I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before me.
   • Requires: Faith, hope, and charity; worshiping God alone.
   • Forbids: Idolatry, superstition, atheism, and sacrilege.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
   • Requires: Reverence for God’s name, keeping promises, and respect for holy persons and objects.
   • Forbids: Blasphemy, perjury, and using God’s name disrespectfully.
3. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.
   • Requires: Attending Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, and setting aside time for rest, prayer, and family.
   • Forbids: Unnecessary servile labor that hinders the worship of God.

The Last Seven Commandments: Love of Neighbor

4. Honor your father and mother.
   • Requires: Respect, gratitude, and obedience to parents; honoring all legitimate civil and religious authorities.
   • Forbids: Disrespect, stubbornness, and neglecting family duties.
5. You shall not kill.
   • Requires: Preserving and respecting human life and dignity from conception to natural death, including caring for one’s own physical and spiritual health.
   • Forbids: Murder, abortion, euthanasia, suicide, and unjust violence.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
   • Requires: Chastity, fidelity in marriage, and respecting the sacredness of human sexuality.
   • Forbids: Adultery, fornication, pornography, and any use of sexuality outside of valid marriage.
7. You shall not steal.
   • Requires: Respecting the property and rights of others, justice in contracts, and stewardship of the earth’s goods.
   • Forbids: Theft, fraud, unjustly keeping borrowed goods, and intentionally damaging another’s property.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
   • Requires: Truthfulness, honesty, and protecting the reputation of others.
   • Forbids: Lying, perjury, slander, gossip, and detraction.
   • The Modern Heresy of Deception:
     • The Illusion: Modern rationalism reduces deception to a harmless tool for social survival, personal branding, or self-protection.
     • The Human Reality: Humanity is hardwired for communion. Deception fundamentally breaks the trust required for true human connection, severing our bond with our neighbor.
     • The Idolatry: Treating “my truth” as absolute constructs an idol of the self. This replaces divine objective Truth with personal convenience, mirroring the original deception in Eden (“you will be like gods”).
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
   • Requires: Purity of heart and intention; practicing modesty and self-control.
   • Forbids: Lustful thoughts, desires, and actions that violate the sanctity of marriage.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
    • Requires: Trust in God’s providence, simplicity of life, and charity toward those in need.
    • Forbids: Greed, avarice, and the sinful desire to unfairly acquire the possessions of others.

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The connection between the First Commandment (no strange gods) and the Eighth Commandment (no false witness) lies in the creation of “my truth.” When an individual decides that reality is theirs to manipulate, they displace God as the ultimate source of Truth and seat themselves upon His throne. [1, 2]

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The Theological Bridge: Truth as Being vs. Truth as Utility

To understand how breaking the Eighth Commandment violates the First, we must look at how modern self-idolatry distorts the very nature of Truth and reality.

• God is Truth: Scripture and theology establish that God does not merely tell the Truth; He is Truth (John 14:6). Therefore, all objective reality is anchored in Him. [1]
• The First Commandment Violation: Idolatry occurs when we treat a created thing—most notably, our own ego, desires, or comfort—as the ultimate authority. [1]
• The Eighth Commandment Manifestation: Deception is the tool used to maintain that idolatry. When you lie, you reject God’s reality and attempt to engineer an alternate reality where you are the sovereign creator. [1]

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Mechanics of the Connection

• The Echo of Eden: The original sin was rooted in a lie from the Serpent (“You will be like gods”). The moment Adam and Eve accepted a false reality (Eighth Commandment), they committed the first act of self-idolatry (First Commandment) by placing their own judgment above God’s command. [1, 2, 3]
• The Sovereign Self: In modern rationalism, Truth is often reduced to utility—whatever serves my personal brand, protects my ego, or advances my narrative. This shifts the focus from aligning oneself with objective Truth to forcing reality to bend to the self.
• The Destruction of Communion: Because God is love and Truth, human beings made in His image are built for authentic communion. Deception isolates the self inside its own fabricated world. You cannot truly love your neighbor if you are manipulating them with falsehoods; thus, self-idolatry inevitably breeds the exploitation of others. [1, 2]

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Augustine on Lying as Spiritual Suicide

In his treatises De Mendacio (On Lying) and Contra Mendacio (Against Lying), St. Augustine argues that a lie is never a neutral tool. It is a profound internal fracturing that actively destroys the liar. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

• The Double Heart: Augustine defines a lie as having a “double heart” (cor duplex). The liar holds one thing as true in their mind but intentionally speaks its opposite. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• The Death of the Soul: God is Truth and the source of life for the human soul. When a person willfully chooses falsehood, they sever their connection to God.
• The Ultimate Paradox: Augustine notes the tragic irony of deception: a person usually lies to protect something worldly (reputation, comfort, physical life). In trying to save a lesser thing, they willingly murder their own eternal soul. [1]
• No “Good” Lies: Because Lying is an intrinsic betrayal of reality and God, Augustine famously holds that even “helpful” or “noble ” lies (such as lying to save an innocent life) are spiritually damaging. [1, 2, 3]

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Aquinas on Pride as the Root Sin

In the Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas positions Pride (superbia) as the queen and root of all sins (ST II-II, Q. 162). Pride acts as the direct glue binding the violations of the First and Eighth Commandments. [1]

                  [ PRIDE ]
       (The Root: Perverted Desire for Excellence)
                     │
         ┌───────────┴───────────┐
         ▼                       ▼
  [First Commandment]    [Eighth Commandment]
  Subverting Divine      Fabricating Reality
  Authority (Idolatry)    Through Deception

• Perverted Excellence: Aquinas defines Pride as an inordinate desire for one’s own excellence. The proud person refuses to submit to a higher rule—which is God’s intellect and law. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• Connecting to the First Commandment: Pride is inherently idolatrous. It causes a person to look inward for their ultimate purpose, effectively setting up their own will as a rival deity to God. [1, 2, 3]
• Connecting to the Eighth Commandment: Deception requires a massive amount of Pride. To lie, a person must believe that their own intellect has the authority to reshape reality, hide the Truth, and manipulate the minds of others.
• The Alignment: For Aquinas, the liar uses false witness to maintain the false image of excellence that their pride demands.

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“Post-Truth” Culture as Ancient Pagan Idolatry

Modern “Post-Truth” culture—where objective facts are treated as secondary to emotional appeals, personal narratives, and political utility—is not a new progressive evolution. Structurally, it functions exactly like ancient pagan idolatry.

• Gods Made in Our Image: Ancient pagans invented pantheons of gods to justify their own cultural vices, fears, and desires. Post-truth culture does the same thing by inventing “custom realities” or “my truth” to legitimize personal desires.
• The Rite of Power: In paganism, Truth was not an objective moral standard; it was determined by power. Whoever held the throne or controlled the temple dictated the cosmic narrative. Post-truth spaces operate on the same metric: power, algorithms, and tribal dominance determine what is accepted as “true.”
• Sacrificing the Innocent: Pagan idolatry frequently demanded the sacrifice of the vulnerable to maintain the illusion of control. In a post-truth framework, actual Truth, objective data, and individual human reputations are routinely sacrificed to protect the dominant group narrative or the idol of the collective ego. [1, 2, 3]

The Seven Daughters of Pride and Deceit

In the Summa Theologiae (II-II, Q. 132), Thomas Aquinas identifies Vainglory as the primary daughter of Pride. From Vainglory, seven specific sins—traditionally called the “daughters”—are born. These sins describe the psychological and spiritual descent of a soul trying to protect its self-idol, directly resulting in the deceit forbidden by the Eighth Commandment. [1]

                    [ PRIDE ]
                        │
                        ▼
                  [ VAINGLORY ]
       (The Inordinate Desire for Manifest Glory)
                        │
         ┌──────────────┼──────────────┐
         ▼              ▼              ▼
   [Disobedience]   [Boasting]    [Hypocrisy]
         │              │              │
         └──────────────┼──────────────┘
                        ▼
                [ DECEIT & LYING ]
     (Forced to engineer reality to protect the image)

• 1. Disobedience (Inobedientia): The refusal to submit to a superior’s command. To hide this rebellion from authorities or peers, the proud person resorts to lies and falsified testimony.
• 2. Boasting (Jactantia): The explicit verbal inflation of one’s achievements or virtues. Boasting is the direct application of the Eighth Commandment’s violation—fabricating false or exaggerated narratives to alter reality in the minds of others.
• 3. Hypocrisy (Hypocrisis): The simulation of virtue or holiness that one does not possess. This is internal deception made external; it uses the body, language, and behavior to bear false witness to the state of the soul. [1]
• 4. Obstinacy (Pertinacia): The refusal to abandon an opinion or admit error, even when presented with clear truth. When objective reality threatens the proud person’s intellectual dominance, they must lie about the evidence to maintain their stance.
• 5. Discord (Discordia): The intentional disruption of harmony between wills. It relies heavily on gossip, detraction, and half-truths to pit people against one another, elevating the proud person as the arbiter.
• 6. Contention (Contentio): Fighting with words rather than seeking truth. In contention, language is stripped of its purpose (conveying reality) and turned entirely into a weapon of self-defense and manipulation.
• 7. Curiosity for Novelty (Praesumptio Novitatum): Attempting things beyond one’s capacity to appear groundbreaking. When these attempts inevitably fail, deceit is required to cover up the failure and fake a successful outcome.

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Modern Post-Truth as a Civic Religion

When objective Truth is abandoned, society does not become neutral; it creates a new pseudo-religious framework. Post-truth philosophy operates as a civic religion complete with dogmas, rituals, and heretics.

• The Liturgy of the “Curated Self” (Social Media Content Creation): Platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn serve as modern temples of Vainglory. The “algorithm” acts as the deity requiring sacrifice. Users engage in a daily liturgy of boasting hypocrisy—filtering reality, staging lifestyles, and curating an altered version of existence. Strikingly, society penalizes the confession of mundane reality and rewards the beautifully engineered lie.
• The Dogma of “My Truth” (Hyper-Individualism): In institutional settings, the phrase “my truth” has transitioned from a subjective emotional expression to an unassailable theological dogma. If a person’s perceived identity or emotional narrative contradicts biological, historical, or economic facts, the facts are treated as blasphemous. To question “my truth” is not treated as a disagreement, but as an act of sacrilege against the idol of the self.
• The Ritual of Cancel Culture (Modern Excommunication): Ancient paganism maintained social cohesion by identifying a scapegoat and exiling or sacrificing them to appease the gods. Modern ideological tribes utilize discord and contention to target individuals who point out contradictions in the tribal narrative. The Truth of the target’s character or intent is intentionally suppressed via false witness (slander and context-stripping) to achieve a unified, purificatory civic ritual of exile.
• Corporate “Virtue Signaling” (Institutional Hypocrisy): Large corporations frequently adopt moral narratives and public social justice crusades while simultaneously exploiting labor or engaging in systemic fraud behind the scenes. This is the structural manifestation of Aquinas’s hypocrisis. The corporate entity creates a false public witness to worship the idol of public approval, treating Truth as an advertising commodity rather than an objective reality.

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When we detach language from God, words lose their anchor. You see, God didn’t just create words; He is the Word—the Logos that holds the universe together. When we pull language away from that divine source, words stop being a bridge to objective reality and instead become tools for manipulation.

Think of the Tower of Babel. The people didn’t just wake up speaking different languages; their shared understanding of reality fractured because they tried to build a kingdom to their own Pride. When your own ego becomes the ultimate authority, “truth ” becomes whatever serves your immediate comfort or power. Words lose their holy purpose, and language devolves into empty noise.

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The Antidote: Resetting the Bone

Fixing this isn’t easy. It requires an antidote that feels a lot like breaking a bone that healed crooked, only to be reset properly. It hurts, and it goes completely against our oldest inherited disease: the original sin of Pride.

To restore Truth, we have to endure the painful snap of shattering our own self-made idols. We must deliberately break our habit of self-justification, our need always to be right, and our desire to control how others see us. It means falling to our knees and admitting, “I am not the author of reality; God is.” Only when that Pride is broken can the soul heal straight, aligning itself once more with the humbling, beautiful reality of God’s Truth.

Five Evils of Social Media: A Guide for Parents

As mothers and fathers, you are the primary protectors of your children’s souls. The modern digital world is a minefield for the heart, and you must recognize the hidden traps your children encounter every time they log on.

• The Echo Chamber of Vanity: It encourages children to obsess over a curated, fake version of themselves to gain empty applause.
• The Constant Comparison: It breeds a quiet envy, making children look at a neighbor’s highlighted life and resent their own blessings.
• The Erasure of Nuance: It trains young minds to think in binary terms, turning neighbors into enemies over sentences.
• The Commodification of Attention: It treats your children’s time and thoughts as products to be bought and sold by algorithms.
• The Illusion of Intimacy: It replaces real, flesh-and-blood human community with digital shadows, leaving souls deeply lonely.

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Sorting Truth from Falsehood in a Digital Age

How do we teach our families to know what is true from what is false in such a noisy world? Here is a simple compass you can share around the dinner table:

• Look for Fruits, Not Flashes: True things bring peace, charity, and clarity. Falsehood usually rides on a wave of panic, outrage, and immediate condemnation.
• Check the Anchor: Whether a statement aligns with the unchanging teachings of the Church and Scripture, it changes based on whatever political or cultural wind is blowing this week.
• Embrace the Quiet: Falsehood thrives on rapid clicks and frantic scrolling. Truth is comfortable sitting in the quiet of prayerful reflection before reacting.
• Look for the Double Heart: If a piece of media strips away a person’s dignity or uses deception to achieve a “good” end, it is not from God. Truth never needs a lie to defend itself.

Copyright 2026 Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. The Center for Contemplative Studies. All Rights Reserved.

• http://www.organism.earth

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