Some really nice thoughts in this blog post by Rebekah Campbell on telling little white lies and the consequences they have on you and those around you:
http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/11/the-surprisingly-large-cost-of-telling-small-lies
Like Ms Campbell, I also have been reading and listening to Buddhist philosophy over the years, especially from Zencast and Audio Dharma.
What really resonated with me about her post was the idea that telling little lies can erode the trust of people around you (of course), and also pull you out of the present moment into offshoot micro-worlds where the lies hold true (nice).
"Peter maintains that telling lies is the No. 1 reason entrepreneurs fail. Not because telling lies makes you a bad person but because the act of lying plucks you from the present, preventing you from facing what is really going on in your world. Every time you overreport a metric, underreport a cost, are less than honest with a client or a member of your team, you create a false reality and you start living in it."The concept of right speech is a core virtue of the Noble Eightfold Path, and it's nice to hear stories illustrating where it's made a difference in people's lives.
How has telling the truth affected your life?
Credits:
Photo CC-BY Julian Povey
