WHY DO WE LIE?

“All the world’s a stage,

and all the men and women are merely players.”

~ William Shakespeare.





Lies, they remind me of the renowned saying that goes “lies have short legs, they cannot outrun the truth forever”. Despite being aware of this age-old saying, the world is filled with lies. From the casual “I’m on my way” text while being in bed, to colossal deceptions that are part of court rooms.



Why exactly do we lie?



The question goes far deeper and delves into human psychology. From what I have extracted, humans are careless of their actions however, the fear of consequences drives them to lie. Consider a student who gets bullied in school and to get rid of this mental torture, he skips school. The fear of disappointing his parents would make him lie about attending school.



The world to me feels like a big screen, where we humans perform wearing masks on our faces. One of the fundamental reasons we weave falsehood is to preserve our social harmony. From complementing a friend’s questionable outfit, to being sympathetic to them in their hard phases of life. Lies are functioning as social lubricants, maintaining relationships.



As I mentioned above, humans are careless about their actions. This means they are aware of the wrong doings. Hence, in order to “seem” a nice person and to protect their integrity, the only option they’re left with is to lie. Lies often play a vital role, serving as protective shields.



Upon contemplating on the question “why do we lie”, I realised the answer itself lies within a different question. The question is why are we involved in activities, which will drive us to lie? To conclude, the question “why do we lie” leads us on a journey of self discovery. Lies themselves act as a temporary survival strategy unlike truth. Truth might give you a hard time initially but eventually would lead to peace and prevail…