The Subtle Art of Not Lying
What it Means to Be Honest in Today’s World
Lying is everywhere. Like the same doctor House once said, everybody lies. We lie to our friends, we lie to our family, and we lie to our coworkers. In fact, we lie so, much that lying is a bit of an addiction. We’re addicted, as both individuals and whole societies.
One of the biggest hindrances in my life is the fact that I’m virtually incapable of lying. It sounds great until you try it and realize how much our society is predicated upon lies. Lies are everywhere and demanded of us…but I can’t bring myself to do it; I simply have too much pride. The truth is, I’ve always been much more willing to risk conflict or loss than I have been to begrudgingly bite my tongue and just go with the flow. A part of my soul dies whenever I see others do this and if you’re anything like me, I think you have a similar response.
There’s a sense of defeat in lies, a hint of weakness that pours out of us every time we presume that someone else couldn’t handle the truth. We make the judgment for them, there, on-the-spot, and we stick with it. In a very real way, we determine their motives and abilities for them, when we do this. Sometimes we also lie to cover our own asses, we lie to authority, which is certainly the most justifiable of all lies. Nonetheless, even these lies evidence our…
