Telling the Truth vs Lying

Ah finally got a bit of time to write (type)...


We've all been taught before when we were kids that we should not tell lies; lying is bad; always tell the truth. But though our parents drum that into us, we still do tell lies once a while. Maybe some of us more often than others. And puhleeezzz... Let's us not be self righteous and claim that we have never. Lets just be honest about it, we all do sometimes feel compelled to tell a lie and we justify it.


As kids it can get confusing. You see, at one side our parents tell us not to tell lies but they then turn their head and tell lies to other people. To make matters more confusing sometimes as kids we even see our parents tell lies to each other! Now that's weird.


Maybe some of us never noticed this going on cause we are too naive or perhaps we choose not to "see".


So as we grow up in this confusing world we then learn that there are white lies and there are lies. 


Well... here's my two cents on this issue.


While it is not good to tell a lie, I would say it is not something that is an absolute. Know what I mean? There are other factors that come into play here. Is one blatantly lying i.e. out to cause mischief, hurt, etc or just being deceitful? Or is one telling a "lie" to protect, or out of compassion. Surprise? Well.. one can tell a white lie out of compassion or with the intend of not causing injury to another. Confused? I'll gee an example.


Say a young HIV positive pimp cum drug pusher dies of pneumonia. The pneumonia was brought about because of his weakened body defenses due to AIDs. He contracted AIDs from his lifestyle and career. You are the doctor who treated him until his last day. His mother, a frail old lady finds out that her beloved son has passed away and she asks you, as his doctor, what was the cause, how would you answer her? Now, her condition is really frail. She has heart problems etc. She does not know of her son's lifestyle and career. What would you tell her?


The plain truth is that he was a bum and he contracted AIDs because of his lifestyle and career and because of his weakened body defense, he contracted pneumonia and that killed him. If he had not done what he did, he would still be alive. That is the plain brutal truth. But do you tell that to the mother?


In my humble opinion, in such a situation, compassion and non-injury comes in. Hence a proper answer to her was that he contracted pneumonia and died because of it. As the doctor, you did not tell her the whole truth but it was like a half truth (or white lie if you prefer). But an answer like this would probably be more palatable to the old lady. She is probably more able to accept that half-truth than a the whole truth that would have devastated her and probably killed her. Get my point?


And that, in my humble opinion is why the great Avatars of our time emphasize a lot on compassion (or non-injury). Telling the truth should not be to a point where you knowingly cause someone hurt.


Another example would be what do you tell your toddler or pre-schooler what goes on behind your bedroom doors when you and your spouse are making love. That is if they ask of course. The reasons for the sounds of ecstasy of "Ahhh"s, "Ohhh"s and "Mmmm"s and other noises or words that may be heard outside the room is hardly something you would want your kid to know right?


Apart from the above, there are also different levels of truth. And this depends on one's own personal development or context (or cup if your prefer). The more developed a person is, the bigger the person's context, and thus the more "knowledge" one can accept and comprehend. That's why all the great Avatars talk in parables. As we develop ourselves, eventually it would lead us all to the same source. So all rivers lead to the oceans. There are more than one way to the peak. But we can only know this if we grow. That's why personal development is sooo important.


Well.. that's all for now.