The great sins of lying

We know lying is sinful; and yet, for some people, it is an effortless art. We all get entangled in petty manipulative acts sometimes, but using connivance and falsehood to fabricate truth can be malicious and damaging to our long-term relationships. If we had consequences like the puppet from the Adventures of Pinocchio, whose nose kept growing with each lie, then we perhaps would know where to stop. But lies are self-interest driven. With a gifted finesse, a lie turns sellable and convincing.

But there can be repercussions behind the phony world of ‘ you scratch my back and I scratch yours’. A fragment of our conscientiousness is sacrificed with each lie spoken or by partaking in it, and slowly the guilt fades away.

We stop fearing the right and wrong, get further enmeshed into deception, and our judgment becomes lopsided. Lies are like para- sites and liars are shallow people who befriend ignorant minds. Liars don’t sell their story by facts, but they make it up to sound real and believable.

It is important to know that lies are tools of duplicity that kill compassion, faith, and the virtues that we learned as children, and/or intend to pass it on to our children. We all know, truth is difficult to endure and cumbersome to speak, especially the first time.

But then it gets easier and easier. Speaking a lie, however, maybe easy the first time, but then it gets difficult overtime. Reminding ourselves this simple thought everyday can initiate incremental change.

Positive affirmations and prayers can be a powerful supplement, and one can seek the almighty’s blessings to follow sincerity in thoughts and transparency in actions. We should not forget that once we stop being cynical, we spread positivity, and learn to favour genuineness over gossip. By doing this, we earn respect and reinforce the strength of our character from insideout rather than portraying a forged self-image.

As Socrates would say, “False words are not only evil in themselves, they infect the soul with evil.”