A person or organization may lie to us; we may lie to others; we may lie to ourselves. Some lies are intentional: a little white lie to save another from getting hurt feelings, a lie that omits a detail of an otherwise truthful statement, a lie to protect or promote ourselves. A flat-out lie, a complete fabrication, usually is meant to harm someone or give the liar an unfair advantage.
Another type of lie is one that may have been perpetrated for generations or centuries. People involved may not even realize the information is untrue. At some point in history, people accepted the information as true without using logic or investigation.
The biggest lies are the ones we tell ourselves. Many influences combine to make us believe untruths: family, culture, business, and politicians. Very tough to go against what your parents believe, what our culture values, what advertising wants you to believe and purchase, what politicians say to get your support and vote.
An exaggerated self-image can cause us to believe overly negative or positive traits.. Accepting the truth about ourselves should be our goal, not the opinions of others. Recognize our good decisions and behavior, realize our short-comings and do something to improve, and accept our natural appearance. See the truth that we are human, not so bad and not always so good. Telling ourselves lies prevents us from the truth.
At some point on our journey to maturity and truth-seeking, we need to wake up to realize that some things we believe are untrue. We may have to give up the comfort that lies provide, but when that is done, we can spend our time and energy on understanding the truth. We may have to go against family beliefs. We still can respect the beliefs of others and not try to persuade them away from their beliefs, but we will be untrue to ourselves if we pretend to agree just to promote harmony. Don't lie.
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