Say a bunch of goons are chasing an innocent person down the street and you save him by hiding him in your house. And say the goons knock on your door and ask if you've seen someone running down the road. What are you going to do? Obviously: lie!
This is an extreme example of a situation when lying is acceptable. Even in softer circumstances, it can happen once in a while that you sense that an innocent lie will result in good for the world. In such situations, speaking that innocent lie is obviously the right thing to do!
When you hear saints exhorting you to live a truthful life, the above exceptions are obvious! The saints know that! They are not stupid 🙂! Neither are you 🙂!
But this is very different from all the lying all around us today! Students cheat in exams, people lie in their interviews, men and women lie to each other to get married, husbands and wives lie to each other in marriage (if a marriage is not working out, it's better to be truthful and end it than stay in it dishonestly), neighbors lie to each other to project themselves in ways that impress, businessmen lie to earn more money, politicians lie to get votes, religious preachers lie to increase their followers, public officers engage in corruption, many lie to get promoted faster!
Why? Why do all this? Dishonesty may seem to bring you some short term rewards, but it wrecks your conscience, it completely takes away your peace of mind! And nothing, absolutely nothing in this world, is even remotely comparable to a clean conscience and a peaceful mind!
Bear one thing in mind firmly: The people who really matter in your life, who really care about you, do not care a hoot about how wealthy you are, or what position you hold, or how many marks you score, or which colleges and universities you attend! They simply want to see you living a truthful life in which you work hard, do your best, and let the chips fall where they may! These are also the people who will stand by you when you go through your lows (which you will, which everyone does)!
Take it from me, live a decent, truthful life, and your external circumstances aside, you will know what it is to have self respect, a clear conscience, and an authentic smile that charms like nothing else! You will work hard through the day, give life your very best, and come night, you will sleep like a baby! These are the true rewards of life, and these simply cannot be yours if you are dishonest!
(And yes 🙂, it is possible to change, that choice is in front of everyone right now, and the right time to change for the better is also right now 🙂 - and this switch is not made slowly and steadily, not in percentages per day, it has to be immediate, just like switching on the lights 🙂!)
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