Truth About Lying

Lying refers to any communicative act that aims to cause receivers of the communication to adopt, or persist in, a false belief. There is no universally accepted definition of lying. Rather, there exists a spectrum of words and descriptions aiming to ascribe a definition.  Though adults can (and do) teach children to tell the truth, we as adults do not comply. We start to avoid being labelled a lier by telling more lies to defend an initial one. We’ve determined that it’s too damn hard to be truthful.

Lying is Untruthfulness, Fabrication, Fibbing, Perjury, Falseness, Dishonesty, Mendacity, Telling Stories, Invention, Misrepresentation, Deceit, and Duplicity. Lying has become part of our life. We are engulfed in it – the TV commercials, politicians, lawers, cops, friends, everybody – lying their life away. We attempt to forget that truth will eventually prevail. Chunks of lies that do not match are piled on one another and truth is banished.

In spite of the lip service we pay to be truthful, a lot more time is spent conjuring up lies, even though lying is much more cumbersome. That’s because the truth always matches, piece by piece, with the other parts of the truth. But lies are a collection of distortions wired together to look like the truth.

While some lies cause long-lasting trauma and emotional catastrophe, others – White Lies – are considered harmless and, sometimes, even kind-hearted. People who are good at telling white lies are refered to as tactful, sensitive, discreet, prudent, clever, polite, understanding and skillful. Here are a few examples of when to tell white lies:

– When Running Late To Work
– When Complimenting A Friend’s Appearance
– When Someone Asks How You Are
– When Talking To A Sick Friend
– When Partaking In Someone’s Cooking
– When Listening To Someone’s Stories
– When Receiving An Odd Gift
– When you call in sick for work
– When You Want To Cancel Plans

Some call these “necessary lies” because they could mitigate a bigger problem. Others think that any lie is wrong. The Bible, they say, tells us: “thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor”. That admonishes us to always tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth – for the truth shall always set you free.