The Art of Lying: The Oldest Skill That Never Gets Old

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Let’s start with a confession: everyone has lied. You, me, even those monks meditating on top of a mountain. Some might argue, “I’m an honest person!” Well, that alone is suspicious.

Lying is a skill we learn from childhood, probably before we could even say our first word. Remember when you were a kid, you were caught scribbling on the wall with a marker, and you said innocently, “It wasn’t me, Mom! It was my brother!” Even though your hands were still covered in red ink. From that moment on, we began to understand the basic mechanics of lying: saving ourselves, manipulating the situation, or simply making the world feel more comfortable.

Lies, from White to Dark

There are sweet lies, like a flattering compliment to a friend who just got a haircut, even though the result looks like a hedgehog struck by lightning. There are also constructive lies, like a doctor telling a cancer patient, “You still have great hope,” even though behind the scenes, the patient’s health graph has nosedived.

Then, there is a more cunning type of lie, which is polished in such a way that it looks like the absolute truth. For example? Politicians who promise to eradicate corruption, but are actually more adept at embezzling funds than big-time thieves. Or influencers who claim to only use "cheap skincare," when in fact they get treatments at clinics that cost as much as a motorbike.

Why Do We Like to Lie?

Let's speculate for a moment. It could be that the human brain is designed to lie. Lying is a survival strategy. If we were 100% honest all the time, we probably wouldn't have many friends or jobs. Imagine going to a wedding and innocently saying to the bride, "Your dress makes you look wider than usual."

But there is another side to lying that is more interesting: it creates the world we want. Fiction writers, for example, are professional liars. They build worlds that don't exist, create characters that are more lifelike than real people, and make us cry for characters who never even existed.

And let's not forget the biggest lie we tell ourselves most often: "I'm fine."

When Lies Become Disasters

But not all lies end well. There are destructive lies, ones that destroy trust and make the world a darker place. A cheating spouse who keeps denying it, a boss who promises a raise but never comes, or a government that keeps selling its citizens false hope.

These kinds of lies are cancers that eat away at trust. Once exposed, there’s no going back to the way it was. We all know that feeling—when we realize someone we trusted has betrayed us. It’s like an electric shock, stinging but also making us more cautious in the future.

So, Is Lying Wrong?

It’s an interesting question. If lying is part of our survival instinct, should we really avoid it? Or should we just pick and choose which lies to tell?

Perhaps, like so many things in life, the answer lies in balance. We don’t want to become pathological liars who can’t be trusted at all, but we also don’t want to be so naive that the world eats us up. Honesty is good, but honesty without empathy is cruel.

Ultimately, the art of lying is about knowing when to tell the truth, when to filter the truth, and when to remain silent, because silence, in many cases, is the most elegant lie.