The Truth About Lies

I'm sure we could all own up to a lie or two, if not, you are most likely lying. Even though in most cases it is quite obvious as to why a person would tell a lie, have you ever sat down and actually thought about it?

Apparently people tell the most lies in January than any other month of the year. I'm assuming this is mainly to do with how they spent their holiday vacation or whether they enjoyed themselves at different festivities. It could also be in regard to keeping with new year's resolutions. Whatever the case, the question does pop up again, and I wonder why we lie?

My theory around lying is based on fear. I believe that people lie because they are afraid. Afraid of what, I am not sure. It could be anything. Afraid of losing face or dropping the facade a lot of us work so hard to maintain, upsetting others, ruining the mood, being impolite, causing trouble for others or for one self, missing out on further opportunities or people not liking us anymore.

These fear based lies are actually quite understandable. It is after all quite easy to upset others, and sometimes it is best to tell a little white lie. But I hear you asking about the people whom aren't so afraid or polite, the ones who just merely lie to get ahead in some way or appear better than everyone else. Well, I think this is fear based also. They obviously don't trust themselves to achieve anything fair and square based on their own ability. They are afraid to be themselves, because they don't believe they are good enough.

And I've tried to come up with when and how liars began to lie. As most behavioral issues do, I believe lying stems from the childhood. Perhaps a liar began to lie simply because their parent/s were too strict, and they feared getting in to trouble constantly. I also read somewhere that it could be due to parents having overly high expectations of the child.

I think lying could also be a survival mechanism. Humans will stop at nothing to get what they need or in other cases what they want, and if lying is what will help, then lying it is. I'm sure most of us have heard of a terrible story of survival where the victim had to lie in order to live or escape. Sometimes manipulation is not only necessary but critical.

We all hate being lied to, but try to imagine a world without lies. I once watched the film The Invention of Lying by the comedian Ricky Gervais, and not only was it hilarious, but it was so interesting to consider what the world would be like without lies. It would actually be quite bizarre.

I guess lying isn't all bad, sometimes we really should. And lying for selfish purposes can be quite understood. As long as you are not hurting anyone and don't use it for conspiring, then just every once in a while you can probably get away with lying.




#truth
#lies
#life
#people


%selfavenue