Intimacy post no 3: addendum

OK, it has a sort-of happy ending (for him). In a paragraph.

At a cost; mostly to others. Does that therefore negate it?

Or does authenticity score higher than keeping others safe (but in the dark) at the cost of being truly truthful?

What does compassion mean in these circumstances?

I'm talking of course of Kureishi's Intimacy.

Can I say, truthfully, myself, that it's better to live a lie and protect others, than be truthful to oneself at all costs?

'To thine own self be true,' said WS. 'Thou canst not then be false to any man.'

'Everything you want is at the other side of fear,' said someone called Jack Canfield.