Why Do We Lie?

oh, so your a fan of Grey's anatomy too?? dont tell me you like meredith as well?? wee!! "it hurts, so we lie" that's my favorite line of hers.. we lie sometimes if we are are running out of reasons to defend what we think is right or when we feel there is a need to lie just to save something we been keeping for long not to get wasted just for a freakin truth..

I only lie when it's necessary. To protect myself from bad people...toshield others. I am a very good liar. Necessity breeds creativity, blah blah blah and all that happy stuff. I never had to lie until I became a teenager -- when I started growing up, in other words. Every time else, I am extremely and sometimes harshly honest. Normally, unless you're a very intelligent bad person...one can't tell the difference. This is how I prefer it. Those I love know that I don't lie to them. My enemies therefore, are the ones who're kept on their toes. I try very hard not to lie to myself. "Question EVERYTHING"...I often remind myself. I question myself the most, since I don't trust my brain or heart not to lie to me. I've no problem with this lack of trust, it doesn't make for awkward situations regarding myself, nor do I angst about it...these days. I don't believe that lying is wrong inherently. I believe that lying is a skill. I love people with skills, which is why I don't hate liars. Bad guy or no, I grin at them for being so good at something. ALTHOUGH, I've yet to find a liar who can really fool me for extended periods of time. Mostly, because as a writer I often have to envision several scenarios at once and how they can fit together...and otherwise because not many people are good liars, and 'cause I tend to be able to juggle that much at once. TEND to, I've met so many more people far more brilliant than I probably ever could be that I've struggled to understand. My former best friend may be the one liar who ever fooled me entirely...although I'll probably never know if that's true. Lies hurt you worse than the truth. A liar must be good at remembering things, must always be ready to be creative, and must be able to mentally multitask. A good liar can lie without hurting anyone or anything. A good liar can lie without malicious intent. UNFORTUNATELY, there aren't many good liars. Just a ton of bad ones. Lies can infect, destroy, and change everything if used improperly. The truth transforms, rebuilds, and slices through your perceptions. YES, it hurts. But only because you're numb to the harm that lies cause do you think it hurts you worse. Ironically...I'm an avid seeker of the truth, my blogging habits are entirely in search of accurate, credible information that can help others. Yet, knowing this, I acknowledge that I am a skilled liar...who tends to tell the truth. Contradictory. On two levels of extremes, but that's me.

I think that some people lie becouse they are weak. That is the only explanation.

It's because living as an adult is more complex than living as a child. The degree of reasons to lie is much heavier now that we are adults. As a kid, we lie just to get away from trouble. Now as adults, we lie because of lots of reasons: to keep something what we have, to give peace of mind, to stay out of trouble, to preserve dignity and so on. That's why we need to lie.

Hmmm... is self protection really a lie? A delusion maybe. I like what you've posted. I think we lie or delude ourselves for the reasons you quoted but I'm not sure that's as wrong as people think. Sometimes we do it to keep going, to keep fighting when other hope has faded. As for lying to others... sometimes we do it with good intentions (right or wrong) For example: "yum, this food is great" even though it tastes like run over tires. Now I know others will say you should always be truthful but our nature isn't like that.

we lie because of different reasons.... its difficult to to tell the truth sometimes especially if doing so might cause hurt or gap...by the way i love dr. meredith grey...*smile*

99% of the people lie to cover up their weaknessess.

I think people / we do make lies for different reasons, there are only few people I think who are bold enough to face the truth as to quote what you have quoted..the truth freaking hurts. One reason I think is the fact that when we lie, we hid something due to some rejection by another, sometimes it is being seen as the only way out, one need to lie to hid the fault of another and saving that person on a tough circumstance.

Yes there are white lies, lies that are not so serious. We lie to prevent hatred or troubles, to avoid sadness or disappointments. Lying however as to real liars as much as possible we don't do it. It hurts much to be addressed as a liar especially if you are really not. Lying to benefit for oneself is bad much more pinpointing others for the fault or mistake we committed. Lying to escape the blame or get rid of an obligation is not nice as well. We may lie but little lies tolerable to have better results.

People lie coz thy cant face the truth in their life :) I feel ppl who lie r cowards :)) ...

hello..lie.perhaps we can call it natural born with us. we still lie though we were trained to percive that honesty is the best policy . just like we were let our parents spent 18 months trying to teach us to stand up and talk while then they trying to spent 18 years to let us sitdown and listen to others. it's paradoxical but true.

Marg- You are very right, a lot of people lie because the ego cannot bear to face the truth. It's funny because I get blasted quite a bit for being "too honest". I just can't seem to bring myself to lie about anything, never have been able to. It does blind people at times, much like the poet Emily Dickinson wrote. However, I can't bring myself to be anything other. Blessings-Anora

we can avoid lying by keeping silent haha, i read about this somewhere that if we do not want to answer a particular question, you can counter ask "why do you want to know?" sometimes it is hard to not lie especially when something is on the line. if telling the truth will entail losing someone or something important to us, it is hard not to lie =(