Liar

Lie? 

I found out on Wikipedia that there are at least 28 types. Some good, some bad, some are necessarily evil, lies come in all shapes and sizes. Some affect your conscience and others affect the outcome of a situation.

Sometimes you cannot make do without a lie, ask generals of an army how deception is important, and then there are innocuous lies a mother tells about monsters just to make sure a baby quickly goes to sleep. Lies could be hurtful as well, as a lover who has been lied to, you will get a full dose of that. And then again there are noble lies in advertisements which make you feel better and forget about the problems.

Liars are everywhere, in fact almost all of us lie, at one point or another. Some do more than others, some fabricate their entire lives, others just enough to not let out the truth. Some lie to save others while others lie to save themselves. Depending upon the conscience of the liar and the lied to, the consequences of the lie is determined. Sometimes the most innocent lie backfires and causes major disputes, and then there are some bland lies which forges alliances among belligerents in seemingly impossible scenes.

It has been a part of humanity ever since our conception, ever since we tricked predators into seeming weak and springing them into prehistoric traps of tar. Not just humans, a good number of animals lie as well, quite justifying the necessity of a lie. But we humans lie far often than not than our animal friends, so much that it seems like that natural evolution has triggered this mechanism to ensure our complexity and 

Although most of us belong to some faith (No offense to atheists, they can justify themselves upon their morality) which say in unison that we should not lie, yet the history has been full of liars, even the most religious zealots have lied at one point or another, and i do not question that. History and religion have been quick to deem them wrong and faithless and as a general rule, has decreed that lying is a sin. But yet i believe that the intent, conscience and context matter the most, if it is a matter of survival, lying might be an absolute necessity, but then if the ones survival causes unsettling of others, that lie is wrong and unjustified. 

Sadly in this world, its easy to loose the line of distinction among the survival of one and the unsettling of others, as so much is entwined among individuals, that one lie not affecting anyone ever is almost next to impossible.

Most faiths have devices around this paradox, they came up with confessions (Not just the catholic notion, but the concept in its entirety). Generally confession is seen as the act of "Sacrament through penance". Confession to a priest, a deity, an altar and what not, a way to get acquitted for all the non ethical doing and violation. And i am not against the concept, as long as it is associated with a conscience and penance, but more often than not, it turns out to be an act of cowardice, not able to stand the consequences of the lies and trying to get away with an anonymous act done under the shroud of a veil. Why so? Because we are too human to judge the cost of a lie, we see world through a narrow point of oneself and to estimate the cost of a lie would require omniscience only god could offer.

The most important concept about a lie and its consequence is the stark realisation of the gravity of the act. A single lie can be the undoing a lifetime of truth and conversely sometimes a single truth can be the atonement for a life of lies. I don't know whether we are judged for our acts after a life or if there is something called afterlife at all, yet i believe at least our deeds affect this world we live in, in ways beyond our comprehension.

In the end it is all narrowed down to the concept of being right or wrong to yourself, and the world that surrounds you, its just a matter of point of view. I do not know whether to judge it or not, what to follow and what not to, i am a confused human being who knows his limitations of comprehension of how this world works, who is scientist and analytic in understanding this world and yet has faith in concept of god.

I know i am a liar, but question is, am i wrong? I leave the judgement upon the god and his instruments ( the world around me).

~People do bad things in their lives. And those sort of things are forgivable. That's half the point of having confession - you need to be able to fess up to what you've done.~