Life is built on ideas that are not entirely true but are necessary for the system to keep going. We say the United Nations maintain peace even though war remains constant. We say family is a refuge when for many people it is the first place where fear, conflict and silence are learned. These constructs are not sustained because they always work, but because questioning them on a large scale would create consequences no one wants to deal with.

If we suddenly removed these necessary lies, many social structures would collapse. Not because truth is unworkable, but because we are not prepared to face it collectively. We live surrounded by implicit agreements we choose not to examine. It is uncomfortable to admit, but much of the stability we know depends on accepting narratives we know are incomplete or simply false. That is the paradox.