Lies and truth

We all tell lies, and do it for all kinds of reasons. Lies are useful, malleable, durable and powerful. We tell lies to ourselves and to others. We tell them to avoid responsibility and consequences, to manipulate people, to hide things, to sell things, and to get what we want. We also tell them to spare the feelings of the people we care about. But lies are particularly popular with people who want to gain the upper hand, because they want to have an advantage - knowledge of the truth - that others do not possess. Lies are powerful and need to be handled with great care. They are double-edged and can backfire spectacularly, generating profound and long lasting damage to the liar. Ironically, lies are also made of fragile material, once exposed they can collapse quickly - one lie usually requires reinforcement with more lies. Lying comes with great risk because it can multiply and grow into a crushing burden one must carry. Also my brother wisely pointed out to me, a lie can spread inside like a cancer, it can destroy from within. 

Sometimes it's easier to believe lies than face the truth. Sometimes it's easier to accept lies than seek the truth. Sometimes it's easier to defend lies than fight for the truth. Sometimes lies make us feel good about our circumstances, give us reasons to blame others for our misfortunes. Sometimes lies give us an excuse to be angry and to hate, and that can make us feel good. Sometimes lies make us feel like we're part of the team because so many others are lying, and the truth can be a lonely place. Sometimes we get rewarded for lying, so we lie even when we know the truth. Lies are for the weak, the cowardly, the duplicitous, the lazy, the unprincipled, the gullible, the ignorant, the foolish, the corrupt. 

"You can not lie your way to freedom," says Timothy Snyder. To define freedom as believing whatever it is you want to believe, whether or not it has any connection to facts, is incorrect. The fundamental characteristic of truth is that it is independent of belief. Seeking truth is the same as seeking independence. Lies are by definition the fabrication of others, done for their purposes whether they be personal, political, economic etc. Therefore believing lies makes you dependent on the liars. It's a kind of servitude. Be a truth seeker if you want independence, seek truth if you want freedom.