So True

The second yama of yoga is truthfulness. In this era of Catfish, bogus social media profiles and a dishonest political system, its getting harder and harder to be honest. One of the most interesting movies I’ve seen in a long time was Ricky Gervais’ the Invention of Lying. It is a very interesting premise-a world where no one lies. However, it is a lot more stressful than people imagined. There are no filters, and people are often cruel and blunt. Religion does not exist, nor is there hope.  Leave it to Ricky Gervais to invent lying, and then the world is a better place.

But is it?

My son lacks the ability to lie. It is one of the double edged swords of beauty/curse that is part of life with autism. Life for him is like living in the alternative world of the Invention of Lying. He can lack tact at times, and tells it like it is. Sometimes, the truth can be incredibly painful and other times, quite refreshing.

Many years ago, there was an episode of Oprah that was about pathological liars. These are folks that seemingly unable to tell the truth. It’s the opposite of living with autism or the wacky world Ricky Gervais dreamt up. If you have ever dealt with one, its frustrating at its very least and destructive at its worst. There is a difference between folks who live in a fantasy world. Patholigical liars lie because at their very roots, they are incredibly insecure.

It must be exhausting, living in a web of lies. You have to keep on lying to cover your tracks. You need to remember the lies that you told and to whom in order to keep the lies going and flowing. The level of betrayal to those who care the most is unbelievable. After a while, its not worth it keeping them in your life, because you never know what’s real and what’s not.

By practicing truthfulness, you aren’t just being honest to others, you are honest to yourself too. How many lies have you told yourself? I know I lied to myself a lot. Just 5 more minutes as I hit the snooze button is one of the most regular. I know in my heart of hearts that 5 minutes turns into a lot more than that. You have to start being brutally honest to yourself first, before you can be honest with others.