Well, I don’t think it’s quite that simple since truth is a
difficult commodity to define. It is a fact, of course, that alcohol acts as a disinhibiting
agent, and as such can reveal things about a person that he or she normally
keeps under wraps. It shows a different side to their persona than the one you’re
usually allowed to see, and I suppose that’s the ‘truth’ to which the video is
referring. But it goes deeper than that.
Alcohol changes a person’s view of the world; it moves them
into a different version of reality – sometimes only subtly, but sometimes more
extremely – and an individual’s understanding of truth is ever reflective of
their perceived reality.
Put all this together and I’m tempted to offer a suggestion
to anyone thinking of engaging in a long term relationship. Don’t go there
until:
a) You’ve seen them drunk while you’ve been sober.
b) You’ve seen them sober while you’ve been drunk.
(That’s if you want to really know them, of course. Maybe
you don’t.)
I think the latter is probably the more instructive, but
then alcohol has been a bosom buddy of mine since I was fifteen (even though,
remarkably, I hardly ever drink before midnight.) I’ve found that it can be an
excellent teacher as long as you keep a third persona standing aside to observe
the process, but it doesn’t work if you follow the tram line view of propriety and
only drink socially. Deep learning is essentially a solitary pursuit, since
there’s nobody holding you back by trying to drown out the hum of Mother
Culture.
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