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Lying Makes Us Truthful



We have something called the herd-mentality, which essentially means that we like social things. We like staying together, doing things with others of our kind, and finding happiness in the existence of other people with us.

For as long as we have existed, we have been this way. Humans started off as hunter-gatherers because it ensured the survival of our race back then. As we progressed through time, this trait of being together and being happy was imbued into us. When we find our people, we are happy. We do things with them and find happiness in doing so. If our people see us as the odd one out, or they see us as a threat, we lose their validation, and our brain screams "existential threat"

When our actions or who we are, fails to be validated by those we consider to be a part of our creed, i.e. humans, we desperately look for ways to win back their favor.

One of those ways happens to be lying.

Lying is basically withholding information, or telling something that is made up. When our social status is questioned, or we are put into a situation where what we are, or what we have done will threaten our validation, we resort to lying. We lie in an effort to maintain our image as a part of the pack.

Nothing terrifies a human more than the thought of being cast out of the herd they are a part of; of being alienated and having to face the world themselves. So, we resort to whatever way we can think of to alleviate that. 

Aside from criminally asymptomatic people, sociopaths, and psychopaths, everyone else in this world will lie to everyone they know, albeit to different degrees to make sure their social standing is never questioned. The moment we are in a situation where we have to defend ourselves, for something we have done, or when our actions are questioned, we get into the fight or flight response mode mentally, and we lie.

And it's not really bad. Everyone lies, and as long as we don't go out of our way to harm another person as a result of that lie, things can stay the way they are. There are pathological liars amongst us who lie based on an impulse, instead of necessity. Even then, what matters at the end of the day is that we understand where this impulse comes from, so we can control it in its truest form.

Remember your school days, where teachers asked you to not lie; that honesty is the best policy? That is a lie. When you try to stay honest, you will encounter situations that you cannot avoid, and you will be stuck with more problems than you are capable of handling.

I lie. You lie. Your parents, they lie. Even your closest friends and family members lie to you and to each other. And as long as we can acknowledge the fact that we are lying in an effort to be better ourselves, lying isn't really bad.

So next time your teachers ask you if you've done the homework, try saying yes.

P.S. Always have a contingency built for the lie, so you don't end up having to defend one lie with a million other lies. 


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