More Truth, Less Lies

"I Swear to tell the truth, the Whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth, So Help Me God"

Probably the most popular and frequently used lie we have ever heard; in fact, the world has ever experienced. From clergy to the most successful con man, to be honest, nobody can say he never lied in his entire life.

How often do we tell lies? To some people, I believe it is echoing like how often do we speak the truth?

Photo by Bruno van der Kraan on Unsplash

Truth can never be hidden, either you reveal it timely, or it will come out as its own— it’s only a matter of time before you are humiliated for hiding it in layers of your lie; like an onion, the more you unfold the layer, the more it becomes irritating. Actually, when we are lying, we are wasting our time and energy on it. Even though we all know how relaxing it is to speak truth, we are too reluctant to practice it in our daily life— especially, when we are talking over phone with someone.

Whatever— but, we can't deny the fact that speaking honestly has some refreshing effects on our mind. It cleanses our soul and removes the rock from our heart that results in the suffocation of the inner self; like the convicted hanging down from the rope and trying to sense any solid object under his feet to reduce the tension of the rope.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.
-Buddha

Society places its bet on truth. Having a high value in society, truth builds the foundation of justice and fairness and that’s why in the court, witnesses repeat the oath “nothing but the whole truth.”

But how truthful are they?

Suppose you are watching a Bengali movie and it’s a court scene 🤭 and guess what, Humayun Faridi is accused of some crime— ah, my big brother in distant relation; he is a master con man in the films.

Okay, both parties swear on the Holy book not to tell a lie— and here comes the confession part of our beloved actor. You don’t need a further screenplay, right? In fact, his eyes and gesture say it all every time he is brought to the court and questioned for a testimonial. :)

It’s just an insult to those Holy books even after they are symbolic.

Every religion has said at least something about truthfulness. And their emphasis on truth has escalated its value by multiple levels. Still, many of us are in denial of remaining truthful no matter what and I belive we don’t have to speak truth in every scenario. Sometimes lying holds a better value than being brutally honest. However, that doesn’t mean truthfulness should be treated as an outdated principle. Rather, it has two aspects in our society, in our personal life.

Even though they are not the same thing, still, being the children of the same mother has to have some commonalities. Shakespear has remarked this duality in an outstanding manner—

To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as night the day, that thou canst not then be false to any man.

In fact, those who are true to themselves cannot do injustice to others.

But like I have mentioned earlier, you don’t have to be brutally honest in every scenario. Sometimes, it’s better to keep the truth hidden to avoid a mess; and you don’t even need to tell a lie to do so.

How?

Simply remain silent.

But what to do when it’s a life-threatening situation and you are bound to tell the truth which might cause harm to others. Yes, you avoid the situation in two ways— either by remaining silent no matter what happens or by giving false information; still a truth.

Don’t worry, it’s okay. In fact, most truth is never so true as we expect it to be. Remember what Oscar Wilde said?

The truth is rarely pure and never simple.

Absolutely!

But we must not forget on thing— no matter what the situation is, we must not leave our path of our values. Speaking truth takes courage and often is a much bigger action compared to yourself, yet, it’s rewarding.

[all content is mine unless stated otherwise]