Oxygen of the Soul (The Cost of Untruth)

Every time you deny the truth,
every time you persuade yourself
that it is otherwise,
for comfort,
for safety,
for convenience,
for gain,

something inside you
breaks silently.

You do not hear it.
You do not see it.
But you begin to sink
to the bottom of your soul.

Because truth
is air.
It is oxygen.

It is the clarity
through which we see the world,
the substance vision must breathe
to remain vision,

no matter how confused
our aims may be.

Without it,
sight collapses.

Even creatures of darkness
cannot live without some light.
Even blindness
depends on a trace of seeing.

For untruth
is absolute night,
and no life
can endure it.

Not even systems built on illusion.
Not even empires of profit.
Not even capitalism.