In my experience, it's real empathy. So many are so self-obsessed in their own bubbles, personas and experiences, they cannot begin to fathom how other people are feeling/what they are going through.

I would agree with @plutolover that so many times, we, us humans, are so self-obsessed. There's separation not only between humans but from the world of life that shares the world, too ... bugs, bees, plants, streams... To keep Me safe, at the expense of ALL others. Though it may appear to be a question of semantics, the use of the word "commodity" in Elsa's question does flavor the meaning. A commodity has value in a market economy where profit is the ultimate goal. Who profits and what does that mean? In exchange for truth, I get ______? Different when the community is not market driven.

Posted by: @mokihana

Though it may appear to be a question of semantics, the use of the word "commodity" in Elsa's question does flavor the meaning

Use of the word was deliberate. If you're in a situation where the norm is to lie and no one will offer you an honest opinion, then an honest opinion becomes a commodity.  You pay for it and it has  value! A lot of value, actually.  Depending on what your question is, the value is possibly out of this world.

I think this is an interesting topic in more than one way. I do think it's common people look you in the face and lie through their teeth.  It's quite a horrible thing to do (my opinion) but I guess there are a lot of reasons to do it.  Lets see:

• Scared of the repercussions of telling the truth.
• They have no truth to tell (various causes for this).
• They're sabotaging you.
• The list goes on.

It seems to me, not many people want to hear the truth, or, when they hear it, they don't believe it. I can't get my head around it as a Scorpio stellium - truth is vital to me, it's what I strive for. I'm not articulating well, but it seems another facet of the ME vs. THEM  - 'no matter what they say, if I can't see it, it's not happening'.

There is a dichotomy with self-obsession because it suggests the person is tenaciously seeking something in their self, but at the same time lacks actual self-awareness or self-knowledge (I equate this with being in touch with truth). I see the tendency to lie as a symptom of an inner lie, a lie about who the person really is that they have been forced to make. They are divided inside and their behaviour expresses this divide - confusion, lying. They cannot remember they gave themselves away, so they search blindly. I would say self-awareness is a rare commodity and could be valued more. Self-awareness involves confronting a lot of things about your self and how much you have betrayed yourself in order to be accepted by others and society as a group. Self acceptance is the harder path than convincing others, it's ugly and it hurts, you grieve essentially, but it leads to greater integrity through learning to love yourself warts and all. This process directly influences all your relationships more positively as you are able to apply some of that love and understanding to very different people who are still lost. Otherwise, it's just a perpetual cycle of self hate being projected everywhere as destructiveness towards others or seeing others as destructive, the fear and anxiety in this cycle is constant. The self obsessed person is continually looking because somewhere they know they lost something but doesn't yet know the way back to themselves.