Lie. Deception. Cheat. Falsehood. Mislead. Falsity. Untruth. Fiction. Concoction. Fabrication. Hoax. Forgery. Exaggeration. Malarkey. Hogwash. Exaggeration. Baloney. Misrepresentation. Fake.
There seem to be so much in the word family of lies. Perhaps, this shows that lying is something more definitely known and understood than the truth. If we had explored the truth long enough and had definite knowledge of it, we surely would have had a deeper understanding of truth. That’s not the case for many people. Lies, however, is where we all somewhat agree on and are very familiar with. What is the noun for people who tell the truth? Mmm, doesn’t exist. What about those who lie? Liars. That says a lot.
WHY ARE WE SO GOOD AT LYING DAILY?
If we were to separate people into those who lie and those who don’t, the whole thing will be one big lie because we all lie. Everyone lies! Sometimes, without even realising. We lie unperturbed. Some lie to their doctors about their health condition, sadly. In court, a witness swears by a Holy Book to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Yet, that’s where we fabricate even bigger lies. Lies are so multi-faceted that for every one truth, there are a billion lies.
The truth is, lying is a psychological trait passed down to us hereditarily. This also means that the more we passed down the trait as a species, the more we became good at lying. In other words, someone born today is much better at telling more complicated lies than someone born 200 years ago. See, we are born natural liars. A study showed that we begin to lie to avoid punishment as early as 3 years. We tip the bowl over and when asked, we blame it on the innocent dog or cat.
It’s not like lying is any simpler. It takes more effort to fabricate a lie than to tell the truth. However, we lie because it is easier for our nature. On a daily basis, our brain makes what I call a calculated lie. A lie smooth enough to be true and not raise suspicion. We lie so much and have evolved in it so much that we lie to ourselves. This is so alarming. That means one part of yourself is actually keeping information from our own consciousness.
Further studies have shown that college students lie in a quarter of the conversations they have with their best friend, half the time with acquaintances and almost 80% of the time when talking to strangers. They lie to their romantic partners in a third of their conversations, and half of the time when they call their moms at home.
LYING IS NATURE
The thing is, lying is bigger than all of us. It is in the DNA of all creatures. Lots of animals deceive their prey or predator with their movements, chemicals, sounds and/or behavior. Viruses are lying to our immune system. Scientists call it molecular deception. Parasites deceive their hosts in order to survive. Chameleons use camouflage to deceive their prey of their presence. Lying is everywhere in nature. Yet, humans reserve the repertoire to consciously fabricate and verbalize lies. The more we tell/verbalise, the more we tell “verbal lies”.
The average adult speaks about 10,000 words a day, and we lie about 10 to 200 times daily. The more you speak, the more you lie. As one speaks, one is likely to omit facts, twist them, cite some and fabricate new ones. Solomon said it beautifully in Proverbs 10:19, “The more you talk, the more likely you are to sin. If you are wise, you will keep quiet.”
Does keeping quiet, however, solve the cure for lying? Not at all! Lying is so complex that sometimes keeping quiet can pass as a form of lying, especially in cases where you were supposed to simply tell the truth. So why we do lie, why is it so often and what can we do about it? Fasten your seat belt, my guy!
I really enjoyed the Truth series. Are you ready for the Lies series? I can’t wait to delve deeper. I have all the answers….
Okay, that’s a lie 😂 I don’t have all the answers, but it’s going to be exciting. No doubt about that 😊
