you don't need a "true" theory, just a good enough intuition pump. I've wasted time trying to find ways to demonstrate "truth", that I should've used to build better intuition pumps, instead

Disclaimer: I am willing to play such tricks on myself in order to get results I want (e.g. - loosely related but too tired to think of a better example - allowing myself to think 'sour grapes'). I'm about to attack that part of us both. Also, I appreciate your honesty.

What you're saying seems to amount to: if you want to make a sale (convince someone to act/believe), don't confuse them with the whole truth.

I think this is the right way for you to operate if you want only to increase the amount of satisfied customers you have (I presume they'll be satisfied as long as they can feel that you're making them feel/think/act differently than they would have had you not sold them on new practices).

But you then make it harder for those who are truth-hygienic to listen to you. Of course, you haven't confessed to anything that wasn't already apparent in your attempts to help and/or convince people here (while sometimes, like all of us, protecting your feeling of being clever and wise, sometimes in an unwise way).