Big things should not be taken on late at night with little motivation. I wrote the last post because I felt a bit forced to get it done and I didn't really feel like writing it. I think it is disappointing and bland. I plan on improving it eventually.
So last night as I got through part of it I wanted to write a different blog. The problem is that this second though required that the first be in place to have any support. This is the second one:
I believe in truth. This time I'm not talking about personal truths or was that the world can be categorized or spewed about but the direct link of truth and lying, when you know you are lying. This one does not involve metaphysics or even a lot of thought to identify. Personally, I know when I am lying. I can feel it. It is just that simple.
Generally I lie for three reasons: it is fun, it can save time and it can protect feelings.
Lying can be a lot of fun when . . . Diplomacy.
I save time by lying in little situations. When someone asks me if I remember that one guy I might say yes. I might say yes because I sense a funny story coming on that really does not care if I know about guy A. It could be women M for all I care because those stories generally don't get less funny if you do not know their particular characteristics. Your friend will tell the story and you both laugh and you never talk about guy A through L for the rest of your lives. Does it matter if you lie there? If you tell the truth of your unknowledgeableness then you break the flow like that word breaks this sentence. So it is a lie, that is true, but you or I do it more for the sake of the story than to protect our own perfect memory complex.
Lying can protect people's feelings when they are emotionally unstable. If a friend come to you crying, you try to comfort them. You could tell them sweet things about themselves or try and make it better by hating what made them sad or saying that no one really knows how to tie their own shoes. You could tell them that the kids in school do not believe in Santa Claus because their parents are demons. You could say things can are not true but that would be lying. For myself, I do not like to lie about very serious or personal things and so when I believe that I am telling the truth and other people think that I am lying, it hurts. Or if someone asks me what I really think of them and I tell the truth, it can hurt.
The problem is that you are still lying. How I see it, people do not really want to lie but they feel that lying is the best way to go considering the alternatives. The question is, is possible to tell the truth and still have friends?
I believe that it is, but it is much harder to do. I really only lie for one reason: it is easier. If I lie to make a friend feel better, I do not have to go to the effort of actually going through my memory to find a positive example of how they are better than this, even though they failed right now. If I lie, I do not have to deal with the repercussions and try to show my friend that I still love them with acts of kindness. If I stop lying, maybe my friends will stop asking me if I know that guy and just jump straight to the story, saving us both time. If I stop lying in Diplomacy, maybe I will win more. Do I have the courage to try it out?
1 comment:
When considering truth, I think that there is another aspect to be examined. The case of partial truth. In order to avoid lying one may leave out some facts crucial or weightless. By doing this one could support that friend or avoid disrupting the flow of a story. However, I think that partial truths can also get one in trouble when dealing with interrelation problems, say between two friends.
If one doesn't explain everything that the other said it will leave the second friend with a distorted image of the first friends meaning.
I would also suggest that there is a line between honesty and constant truth telling. Honesty is for situations where the outcome affects people's lives in direct and important ways or affects how someone will relate to you or the world. If one constantly tells nothing but the truth one could miss out on a lot of fun times. For example, practical jokes where withholding information is key would become impractical to perform. As well if one was constantly wedded to truth it would be much more difficult to exaggerate stories or embellish adventures for excitements sake.
I like to think that I seek truth, the rights and wrongs of the world and the falsehoods and impurities, but that when it comes down to the important things in life I operate on a policy of honesty. What exactly is important is for another day.
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