Should I Always Be Truthful?

If you haven’t already done so, this is one question you’re going to ask yourself at one point in time or the other. Chances, though, are that you have already asked yourself this question. And if you’re like most human beings, you probably hesitated to arrive at a clear cut answer, weighed a lot of circumstances, and decided you will answer the question some other time.

On the surface of it, the answer might be pretty clear to you. If you had to provide a response to someone else (say, your kid), I reckon you will answer in the affirmative: yes, we should always be truthful! However, admitting this answer (and living it) is a totally different thing. What makes it appear to be a rather complex question is the realization of the demands it places on you to navigate certain emotional states like shame, pride, jealousy, fear, etc. For instance, would you be truthful if you had to shame-fully admit to your spouse that you cheated on him/her? Would your professional pride allow you to admit to everyone that you were the one that messed up a particular thing at the office, when everyone is unsure of who to blame? Wouldn’t you be a little inclined to tell that small, harmless white lie against that colleague of yours, just to get ahead?

Sometimes I feel that the older we get, the more difficult it becomes to be truthful all the time, in our words, thoughts and deeds. One reason for this is that we get so deeply invested in our emotions, that the effort is takes to navigate them to say the truth becomes so enormous that we just do the easier thing which is to be untruthful. And this behavior is reinforced when we get away with those “untruths” or happen to enjoy some positive experience from them.

It is said that being truthful will set us free ... 

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