Remember that crazy challenge to write 800 words a day? Well, I’m still typing my way through it. Here’s a slice of last night’s rambling pie – unedited, exposed:
broken. we are all broken. right? but some mask it better than others – like emotional make up. like emotional clothing or something. what if we couldn’t hide stuff – like the movie about lying – about the first man who started lying? what if the rest of us spoke the truth all the time? i think I’m ok with hiding somethings – at least some things. we’d rip each other apart if all we did was tell the truth all the time.
the invention of lying.
it really is amazing that we can act – we can create – we can lie. think about it – no other creature on the planet can lie.
actually – that’s not true
deception is a part of nature – those butterflies/moths who have “eyes” on their wings. those birds who fluff up to look bigger – more intimidating. the bugs who are shaped like tree leaves.
hello?
the whole world is lying.
if God created creatures who survive on deception, how come we can’t lie?
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Why do we respect a good actor yet despise a good liar? The actor is actually getting paid to lie! We WANT him to deceive us. If he doesn’t lie effectively, we call him a bad actor. We laugh when pastors tell good jokes from the pulpit, even though we know they are untrue. “True stories” often aren’t very funny. We like the lies better. The word “hypocrite” comes from the stage, if I’m not mistaken.
We lie when we wear clothes that make us look skinny. We lie when we drive cars that we can’t afford. We lie when we write checks that our funds won’t cover. We lie when we claim to love everybody.
oooohhh… would you say wearing makeup is like lying?
I hope not, coz then I’d LOVE when girls lie like that lololol
That’s funny.
I’ve got a little saying that I use a lot – “The truth is a hard thing to find.”
In a way, yeah, makeup is a deception. But in another way, it’s like the actor – we KNOW it’s there, and we know there is a deception, so we don’t mind it. Does God? I personally don’t think so, but I think you can see my point. (Although I’m not even sure what my point IS….)
It’s also quite humorous to me that policemen are specifically given the right by THE WRITTEN LAW to lie during the course of an investigation. In other words, the people who can send you to jail for lying to them are specifically allowed to lie to you in their efforts to find the truth. (Warning – never believe anything a policeman tells you. Especially along the lines of “we got an incomplete 911 call, can we come in?”, or “your friend confessed and it will go easier on you if you do, too.” )
I guess what I’m saying is that there are a LOT of deceptive things in the world. As to makeup, we don’t like Dove using Photoshop to make the models look a certain way, yet ask any photographer if they have clients who want them to fix their wrinkles…
The truth is a hard thing to find.
The police stuff is something I’ve never even considered until I watched a few seasons of “24″ – go figure…
And have you paid attention to latest Dove ads? In the past few years, they have specifically “unmasked” the photoshopping side of things. Interesting approach, but it’s refreshing!
24 is awesome, but Jack started talking too dang much in Season 8. Too much “I want to know who inside the Russian government is responsible for issuing the orders to kill Renee Walker!” while interrogating a suspect at gunpoint. Terrible scripting. Sounded incredibly “written for effect” and Kiefer didn’t do a good job of delivering the lines in a lot of cases.
And that has NOTHING to do with your post.
i never thought about creation “lying” – this is a new perspective for me. eeeek ….
I talked to Drew about this last night. He said “Wow, that’s a good question. Wrong conclusion, but good.” haha
Things were a lot different when god created them than they are now. Lions laid with lambs etc.
But, isn’t “the law” supposed to be timeless?
goodness….now my head’s spinning right with you and i got nothing.
but then i wonder is it lying…or is it just that we are seeing things wrong? are we just seeing through our own perspective? like that butterfly…maybe we’re playing tricks on ourselves. ha, beats me.
Check what Gitz said. She always comes through for us heretics!
I think the lying of nature (like the butterfly) is for survival. The difference between them and us is reason. God gave them the eyes on their wings to survive. It’s not a conscious choice. We get to make the choice if we want to paint eyes on our wings for survival or turn our eyes to Him for survival.
We get to choose LOVE.
Butterflies just get to survive.
GREAT RESPONSE!!!!
at every response you ever give to any blogpost on anyones blog, I always think “dang, you are SO smart.” Seriously!
I’m going to be such a disappointment when you meet me in person someday and realize I’m just a big dork.
but a smart dork! Aren’t they all??
In the animal kingdom deception is essential to survival, as in the example you give of the butterfly.
When we hunt we wear camouflage, and make sounds like that our our prey to get them to come closer.
We humans have the most complex, and precise, verbal communications of any animal, and the most complex social structure, at least since we discovered agriculture and built large cities.
Modern culture has developed very complex rules of behavior. What is, or isn’t, socially acceptable in a given situation. When the survival of your family is at stake I can’t think of when deception, or lying, wouldn’t be considered acceptable, or at least considered understandable, no matter what the rules of society are.
In the societies I can think of the stated, written, moral standards are higher that how people are actually expected to behave by their peers.
Not being a Christian I am not sure if your God’s guidance ever allows for lying, or deception.
Interesting thoughts, Ed. And I also once heard that we (and chimps, maybe) are the only ones who can create stories in our own minds…. have imaginations.
The human imagination? THAT’S the thing that more amazing than anything else!
i probably liked this more than i should.
i should probably be coming up with some kind of wisdom or pondering the deep truths your question stirred up.
but, really…i just like your brain. the way it thinks.
and, seriously…i think gitz already won the prize for most insightful comment….
I know right? Gitz is quality material. All the way around.
dang.
What does that even mean?
Wish I could add something intelligent to this, but all I have I guess is that there really is a scale to lying…what, why, how and to whom you lie plays a major part in this I guess. Then again, is that just an excuse?
Maybe the ability to lie, sugar coat etcetera is just a mechanism for survival?
- as usual I just came up with a lot of stupid questions
Thanks for sharing your thoughts though, it’s very thought provoking!