Beautiful lies.

Recently I have been confronted with third hand “updates” on people I know well, and who I don’t recognize in the tales told. It’s been like a déjà vu from when we were kids and played the whispering game. You know: the game where we sit in a circle or a row and the first person whisper something in the next person’s ear and the word or sentence travels down the row to the last person who say it out loud. Kids find it very amusing how the statement was changed when the first person tells what he or she actually said.

It is funny when you are a kid and it is all very innocent. Not so much when you are an adult, and life is not all that innocent anymore. At the end of the day it’s not what we have which defines us, but who we are. And who we are is basically what is said about us. Intimidating but never the less true… I think.

I don’t lie. It’s not that I don’t appreciate a convenient white lie, but I am too distracted to remember what I said last, and having firsthand experience with how painful corners I paint myself in can be, I avoid them. BUT, if anyone by chance should tell me I am beautiful, I know I am not but that doesn’t prevent me from shining for a brief moment.

The truth, however, can be hurtful. Self-deception is probably the most comforting state we can lull ourselves into. It usually doesn’t hurt anyone else than ourselves either. We just live in a bubble of being content with the state of things, believing we have no problems or issues, until the truth hits.

Truth can hit you hard, and yet there is a distinct beauty in truth, even if it's painful. Budda stated that “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth”. As we go about our daily life living by our standards it will be noticed and false words attacking our integrity will eventually be corrected. Like a law of nature, but we shouldn’t have to deal with it.

When people tell you what you want to hear, nothing productive comes out of it, nothing except the fact you feel good about yourself. But when you act on what you know you risk making a fool out of yourself, which is humiliating as well as hurtful to others. Now, being hurt or offended or humiliated doesn’t really do anything. There are no consequences to that, other than you feel it. But feelings are true too; when I am sad that is real. Noone else is affected by it, unless they have compassion, but the sadness is my own.

It is probably a harsh thing to say, but hypocrites very often get offended by the truth.
You inflict negativity on others by what you say, when you lie. Personally I think that is bad karma. It’s a lot like rumors: no one will challenge you to your face or give you a chance to explain yourself. Only time does that for you.  All the whispers are behind your back. You are left with no means of clearing your own name. You are certain to be the last person to know. And after a while you realize there is no point in even attempting to do so. People don’t want the truth. All anyone wants is the chance to add more fuel to the fires of gossip. After all: it’s gossip! You can add and subtract just about anything you want, because it’s gossip and we don’t really expect the rumour-monger to be held accountable. There really isn’t anything good to say about gossip, other than it has a blissful tendency to backfire.
 People who lie, twist life so that it looks tasty to the lazy, brilliant to the ignorant, and powerful to the weak. But lies only strengthen our defects. It doesn’t teach anything, help anything, fix anything or cure anything. Nor do they develop one's character, one's mind, one's heart or one's soul. It only creates confusion.

Sometimes it is easier to see clearly into the liar than into the man who tells the truth. Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object.