Please STOP Lying!

Telling lies has become, quite tragically, a very common form of communication. I can’t tell you the number of times I have said to someone “That’s a lie,”and they have said “no it isn’t, it’s just that i said that to make things much easier.” As though, somehow, making things easier means that untruth can pass as truth!

Lies are short cuts; they are things we employ all too frequently to simply make the communication faster. If I have to actually explain something to you, I have to give time, attention, and care to the conversation. If I simply tell you a lie that will please or appease you in the moment, it doesn’t take attention or care or time. But these lies are rotting away our relationships and also our own spiritual health. The words we speak not only impact those we are speaking to, but they also impact our own minds and our own hearts.

We also tell lies because we think it will make other people like us more. Either they will like what we say because we are falsely praising them, or they will like us more because we are telling untruths about our accomplishments or achievements or experiences. But on a deep level, we know what is true, and so we know that any relationships based on lies are very shallow and not fulfilling.

As the new year is coming upon us, let us think very carefully about how we can bring more truth into our communications, because truth is fundamental to the health of our spiritual progress as well as to the health of our relationships. Also, the more of us who are speaking lies on individual levels, the more our collective spaces are filled with untruths, which are ruining our communities, nations, international relations, and even our planet. Let us re-find the deep value in living truth.