When we are taught that 5 + 5 = 10 in school, we accept it without question. That is what schools are meant to teach us. A fact qualifies as truth when it is universally agreed upon. Yet, in reality, very few people are truly successful in applying such truths to the real world.
Although most students learn that 5 + 5 = 10, as they grow older and step into the realities of life, they often find it difficult to apply this truth as it was taught. The world seems more inclined to believe that 5 + 5 is merely a “count” rather than an absolute. People reinterpret it in ways that serve their own interests and find it profitable on their own terms. They may have valid reasons for doing so. What matters, however, is that they learn to apply their beliefs successfully in the real world—and reality does not collapse because of it.
If reality can survive both belief and truth existing side by side, then what purpose does the difference between them serve? This is the million-dollar question. If reality does not collapse under the contradiction between belief and truth, then what does? Simply put, it is the collapse of dreams.
A person who is taught to dream based on truth eventually discovers that the world bulldozes dreams rooted in truth alone. Over time, such a person stops dreaming. What does it mean, then, to live in a world where you know your dreams will be crushed simply for being true to their core?
Yes, the dreams of those who believe often do come true. But was it truly a “dream come true”? Or was it merely a belief fulfilled—because it was belief that survived, not truth necessarily?
