Truth, Lies, and Us
Lies
Have you ever told a lie?
No?
Hmm. Are you lying about having never told a lie? Are you lying about not lying?
What causes people to lie?
Is it a fear of the truth? Or perhaps it is the fear that others will discover the truth? More specifically, is it the fear of certain potential consequences or impacts that may result from the disclosure of the truth?
Let’s look at this from another perspective. Instead of viewing a lie from the point of view of the liar, let’s examine it from the point of view of the deceived. What makes us so angry, sad, or frustrated to learn that we have been lied to? Or in other words, why do we react so strongly when we find out that we have been deliberately deceived?
To be sure, most of us would agree that there are degrees of lying. We might quibble as to the exact line that demarcates where these untruths become malicious, but most reasonable people accept that some lies are issued with the intent to be polite, preserve feelings, or some other relatively worthy endeavor. Answering in the affirmative when asked by your dinner hostess if you like her (es)special(ly bad) recipe is not the same as willfully deceiving someone for your own gain.
While social niceties may require little fibs, that’s not exactly lying, or at least it is not what most of us mean when we think of lying.
Truth
To understand lying, we must first examine truth and why it is so important. Simple definitions of truth would describe its being the “the…actual state of a matter” and its “conformity with fact or reality.” In other words, truth describes things as they are and is therefore not affected by our opinions, perceptions, desires, or even needs.
In this way, truth is inextricably linked to reality. Therefore, lying is a direct assault on reality. This undoubtedly explains why we react so strongly when we know we have been deceived.
For Christians, truth has an even deeper resonance. We see Christ as the Truth, owing to His self-designation as such. Therefore, it isn’t that Christ personifies truth, but the other way around; truth perfectly accords with Truth (Christ). In this case, Truth is the subject and not an object.
In an even deeper sense, Christ is seen as the Logos. This term existed before Christ, but the ideas and concepts germane to logos were adopted by Christians to describe Christ’s centrality to reason, logic, and the cosmic order. Viewed in this way, lying is an affront to God precisely because it is an attack on Truth and His divine order.
Honor
I spent four years as a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The Academy has a very strict Honor Code:
“A Cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”
I thought this was a valuable lesson for the Academy to imbue in its cadets. I completely agree with the focus that West Point places on the commitment to truth and teaching its importance to young leaders of character. This becomes understandably important when we think of what cadets are potentially preparing themselves to do. When we reflect on the scenarios in which these future military officers may find themselves, it becomes clear just how important it is to ensure that these young leaders have a commitment to truth.
When we stop to think about lying, cheating, and stealing, we quickly realize that they are merely variations of the same phenomenon. They all involve forms of deception and thus are all forms of striking against the truth.
Living honorably means to align oneself with the truth in word and deed. This inherently involves living in a way that conforms to reality and order. It necessarily means being true to oneself as well as a predisposition to be consistently genuine with others.
Integrity
Why does integrity seem so rare?
Are we being overly idealistic when we expect high integrity from ourselves and others? No one expects perfection. As humans, we aren’t always true even to ourselves. In fact, we often fail ourselves first. Therefore, even if we acknowledge that perfect integrity is unattainable, we should still expect a high standard of integrity from ourselves and others.
I realize that demanding “high” integrity is a bit nebulous. How do we quantify the appropriate threshold for acceptable integrity? I don’t know that I have a great answer, but I have plenty of experiences in life that have demonstrated to me both instances in which I truly appreciated someone’s sincerity and instances in which I was extremely disappointed in someone’s duplicity. Therefore, I think we can generally feel what is right in terms of integrity.
Living a Lie
Why then does it seem that so many people are comfortable living a lie? Are they afraid of the truth? Have they lost a comprehensive grasp of reality? Are they so confused that they no longer know what is true? Is their worldview incomplete or compromised? (I’ve written previously about worldview warfare).
To be fair, we are all living a lie to some degree, large or small. We often deceive even ourselves as to how our actions align with our stated virtues or goals. A significant component of personal growth is working to identify and then minimize the deviation between the person we think we are and the person we truly are. We absolutely should all work to live as honorably as we can.
Yet, I see many people —even “good” people — who knowingly embrace lies, promote untruths, and live in ways that spread massive amounts of deception. One of the reasons they do this is because in many cases the lies are more pervasive than the truth. For the weak of character, it is easier to accept, endorse, and push the popular narratives as opposed to the unvalued truth that is so often shunned.
But truth itself remains ontologically unchallenged regardless of how many people seek to either hide it or hide from it. That’s because truth exists entirely independent of how many people believe it.
Living a lie does nothing to diminish the truth. It merely reveals those who lack the integrity to embrace it.
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“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
- George Orwell