The Truth And Avoid The Bad Habit Of Lying

From a young age, our parents have always told us to never lie. We are taught to tell the truth and avoid bad habits of lying. Lying breaks trust between people and can ruin relationships with friends and loved ones. Many believe that telling white lies, or lies with the intention to avoid hurting people’s feelings, are acceptable. However, they are not a better alternative. Lying is never fine but realistically, it is inevitable and unavoidable. With that being said, there are multiple reasons why lies should not be told. Many lies seem to be harmless but have negative results in the future. When one examines the teachings of Zarathustra, we realize how Asha plays into the topic of lying. In today’s society, lying has become a common nature. Many people lie to find comfort and avoid hardships instead of confronting a problem. People intentionally lie when the truth makes them uncomfortable or scared.

We lie because of the fear of being judged and embarrassed. In today’s society, many feel obligated to lie when being pressured to live up to an expectation or standard. The fear of ruining their self-image forces them to lie about certain things. Lying may seem like the best option in the moment but realistically, it will most likely cause more complications in the future. For instance, you break your mom’s favorite vase on accident. Being afraid of the punishments that may come, you lie about the situation claiming that your sibling broke it. As time passes, your guilt weighs you down. You finally tell the truth to your parents and get grounded for a week. This punishment is worse than how it would have been if the lie had not been told in the first place. Using our Vohu Mana, or good thinking, we use our own judgment to decide when it is absolutely necessary to lie. This moral compass along with progressive mentality, otherwise known as Sepanta Mainyu, will lead us to Asha. In the Gathas, we use Asha, which is the law of the universe or righteousness, to make the right decisions. We need to follow the path of Asha to lead us to happiness. As human beings, we have the power to make our own decisions and life choices.

Lying creates more obstacles and issues throughout our journey to find inner peace. With all this considered, there are some circumstances where lying is fine. On the contrary, lying is necessary in certain situations. Deception that does not have a selfish intention is alright. One instance when lying is okay is if the truth puts us or others in danger. If a family member or loved one would physically be harmed if the truth is exposed, then lying would be fine. One example of this would be if a kidnapper asks the location of your family member. Additionally, lies with neutral outcomes are acceptable since there is no selfish intention. Lying to a friend to plan a surprise birthday party is an example of that. While all this may be true, the best alternative to lying is to not answer at all. If something personal is asked, the respectful response should be that you are not comfortable with answering the question. There is no need to lie.

To conclude, lying is definitely not okay but in reality, it is bound to occur. Nonetheless, we should not abuse this power that we hold. If the thought of lying comes to mind, we need to fight the temptations and the internal battle against those bad thoughts. The consequences of lying should be considered before the act is done. This principle has been discussed in the Gathas by which we are encouraged to defeat Angra and Aka, or bad intentions that that cause regression. By choosing Vahyo and Sepanta instead, we can find happiness and be in a state of Haurvatat. If we follow Asha and do the right thing, we will get good results. Lying ruins our pride and dignity. We can, however, begin to improve ourselves and the world by being more honest during interactions. We have to use our own judgment to make the right choices on when it is okay to lie. All individuals have the freedom to make decisions based on what they believe is right. We are not obligated to lie because of pressure brought on by society’s expectations. The best thing we can do is to be ourselves and not care about being judged by others. No one is perfect but we can strive to improve ourselves and become better individuals.