Why do we lie?
Why we feel so attracted to tell lies? Lies are a type of tool we use every day to free ourselves from responsibility, while it is true that we all lie, it does not mean that it is a good decision to choose to lie instead of speaking the truth.
Many times, we are tempted to speak lies to cover up our inabilities or irresponsibilities in life. Being late for an appointment, failing to fulfill a responsibility, having to tell a lie in the face of someone's questions in order to know the truth.
For Christians, lying is a sin. It’s one of the commandments of the law, not to lie. There are no exceptions to get rid of the sin, there are no small exceptions that say you can only lie when you are justified or when you tell a lie that we call pious for our convenience. No, the commandment says you shall not lie.
There are no ways to get out of having to tell the truth and yet in the face of this great truth of the commandment we dare to lie on a daily basis. We dare to find ways to justify ourselves to tell lies.
It’s part of being human to lie, but in some it is a disease. Yes, Mythomania is the act of lying in such a way that the person lives in their world of lies as if it were real. They feel the need to lie compulsively.
Is lying necessary? No, it is not necessary. Telling the truth is the thing that leaves the best sensation in the body because at the very moment you tell the lie, the body already begins to feel the weight of consciousness. So why don't we take it back at that very moment and tell the truth?
Because we have pride, to say that we lie is like lowering ourselves to an inferior level and we do not expect to do such a thing because there is nothing better than the feeling of being superior to others. Feeling that we have the power, the power to lie, to win, to have superiority over others.
We do not realize that the lie has short legs and that at any moment the truth has more weight and comes to light. That is when we are discovered and we look like liars.
There are so many ways to lie, when we promise something and we don't deliver, we lie, when we say we will do a task and we don't do it, we lie, when we make an appointment with someone and leave them waiting, we lie, when we say we have an award or recognition and it is someone else who won it but that makes us feel better with others, we lie.
It’s a feeling of momentary gain to lie. Why then the weight that the lie itself brings to our body is worse than having told the truth.
I know mythomaniacs that throughout my existence have passed through my life. They have even been my friends and I have realized that lying is part of their superficial life and the worst thing is that as it is a disease, they cannot get out of it and they weave a kind of spider's web that they do not know how to untangle, until it falls under the weight of the truth.
I think we must get out of the habit of telling lies, with words that tell a truth that does not hurt but that in the end is the truth.
Sometimes people come to my house at times when I am practicing something important to me, to the point that I tell my son that if someone calls me tell them the truth without lies.
He does NOT have to say that I am asleep or that I am not there, neither should he say what I am really doing, he should only say in good words that I am not available to receive him and that I am excused.
Sometimes people come to my house to ask for information and I am taking a bath. I tell my son that people do not have to know that I am in the bathroom, they should just say that I am very busy and I cannot go out to greet them.
These are ways of excusing myself that are not lies. The lie hurts more than the truth and I always told my son that I may resent a truth but, in the end, I appreciate him telling it to me but under no aspect do I accept to find out that my son lied to me to save the moment.
Maybe he does but I don't find out. I try as much as I can not to break my word to him and not to lie, nor teach him how to do it.
The lie I told my son was that St. Nicholas was real and to this day he admits that this is his biggest disappointment with me. I couldn't help it at the time and I didn't know the significance of my lie, but I should have told him that I was bringing him the presents on behalf of Santa. It would have saved me those tears I made him shed.
There is no justification for lying.
Lies are often done to cover themselves from reality.