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This life of mine is quite the puzzle.

No one, not even those closest to me, knows the truth.

But I do know the truth exists within me.

I just don't know how to be true.

Hint #1:

There is only one correct interpretation. No one-word answers, please — give an explanation.

Hint #2:

“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.” - Peter Drucker

Hint #3:

I want to tell you what I've kept hidden, but I'm afraid.

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  • $\begingroup$ Are you sure this is tagged correctly? I was thinking riddle and maybe enigmatic-puzzle, but not sure if there's some hidden meaning in the tagging. $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    May 25, 2018 at 22:35
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    $\begingroup$ If a puzzle contains no question, can it have an answer? $\endgroup$
    – Trevor Powell
    May 26, 2018 at 5:26
  • $\begingroup$ If you were to ask me, “What is this puzzle about?”, I would say that is the question. $\endgroup$
    – kedarguru
    May 26, 2018 at 5:51
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    $\begingroup$ the truth exists within me - could you please confirm there's no steganography tag required? $\endgroup$
    – Phylyp
    May 26, 2018 at 22:17
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    $\begingroup$ @Phylyp That is a great question. I’ve added the steganography tag. $\endgroup$
    – kedarguru
    May 26, 2018 at 23:11

6 Answers 6

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This is a good one. I believe the confession in the answer is that:

the person writing the text is gay

That's a clever arrangement of words to make it a decent poem too.

'g', 'a', 'y' are the only letters of the alphabet missing from the text.

It was a shot in the dark, but it's the Peter Drucker quote that led me in this direction.

Funnily enough, the Julia program I wrote to get the missing alphabets (which was programmed only to print out the Set of missing alphabets, in whatever order) just straight away printed Set(['g', 'a', 'y']). :)

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    $\begingroup$ Your shot in the dark brought you to the correct answer! Thank you for the kind words. $\endgroup$
    – kedarguru
    May 29, 2018 at 19:17
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Could you be

A magic 8 ball? (Or analogously a paper fortune teller)

No one, not even those closest to me, knows the truth.

They bring their questions to you for they do not know the answer themselves.

But I do know the truth exists within me.

The magic 8 ball contains all possible answers (yes, no, maybe, etc) so one must be the truth.

I just don't know how to be true.

You just don't know which answer is the true one. You can shake the magic 8 ball, but it just selects a random one.

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  • $\begingroup$ I think this answer would fit if this was a simple "what am I?" riddle, but the nature of this particular puzzle and how it should be solved is different. $\endgroup$
    – kedarguru
    May 27, 2018 at 6:01
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Pretty sure this is incorrect, but I figured I'd try a different approach at least. How about a:

Thaumatrope

"This life of mine is quite the puzzle."

While not technically alive, it is not immediately apparent how a Thaumatrope works.

"No one, not even those closest to me, knows the truth."

Both the front and back of a thaumatrope do not give you the full picture.

"But I do know the truth exists within me."

All the letters in the word truth are also in the word thaumatrope, and also spinning the thaumatrope combines the two pictures to reveal the true picture.

"I just don't know how to be true."

Again referring to their usage / true picture not being immediately apparent?

Again, I don't expect this to be correct, but I hit a dead end and wanted to tell you where I ended up anyway.

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    $\begingroup$ Nice attempt, I see you really thought this through. Unfortunately the correct answer is something very different. $\endgroup$
    – kedarguru
    May 29, 2018 at 13:24
  • $\begingroup$ Yeah, I figured as much. Curious what it'll end up being! $\endgroup$
    – Mara
    May 29, 2018 at 16:44
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Could you be a

Compulsive Liar

This life of mine is quite the puzzle.

A Compulsive Liar has no good reason to lie so frequently making it a "puzzle"

No one, not even those closest to me, knows the truth.

A Compulsive Liar will lie to just about everyone except to himself

But I do know the truth exists within me.

A Compulsive Liar knows the true but fails to say it

I just don't know how to be true.

Sometimes Compulsive Liars don't lie because they choose so, it's the only thing they know how to do. "Many compulsive liars begin telling lies to avoid reality or certain perceptions they have about themselves."

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  • $\begingroup$ Unfortunately I am looking for something different. $\endgroup$
    – kedarguru
    May 28, 2018 at 15:28
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Could you be:

An answer

This life of mine is quite the puzzle.

answers exists because there are puzzles

No one, not even those closest to me, knows the truth.

Sometimes the answers we get don't show the truth

But I do know the truth exists within me.

There is some truth in all answers

I just don't know how to be true.

Answers need to be verified

By similar logic

theory or hypothesis also works

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It could be a

a dumb and blind witness to a crime (which s/he can make out by his/her other senses).

As,

such a witness cannot narrate the incident to establish the truth.

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  • $\begingroup$ Good attempt, but there is a different way to approach this puzzle. You would need to look more closely. $\endgroup$
    – kedarguru
    May 26, 2018 at 14:43

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