Granted, there have probably been many times a person has told a lie and nothing really bad happened to them. This is probably why many people who take my course greet this comment with skepticism. This blog will attempt to explain what our ancestors meant when they said lying is evil and a person who lied too much was put to death. I will start with a form of a lie that is most common on the reservation and one that is the cause of the majority of the problems on Indian reservations. This lie is called "addiction."
Addiction
It is not my intent to sound like a person from Alcoholics Anonymous, but if you really examine the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous closely, you will realize that each step requires a huge amount of self-honesty to complete. The first step an alcoholic has to take is to admit he or she is powerless over alcohol and that his or her life has become unmanageable. Many alcoholics do not have the self-honesty to admit they are powerless over alcohol, and this is true for abusers of other substances as well - so they continue using. The harm caused by this inability to be honest is tremendous, abuse of all kinds, missing work, low quality of work, etc.... It is understandable that alcohol was/is considered "demon rum" by some folks.
Gossip
Gossip is 99% lies. Ask anybody what they hate about working for a particular tribal organization, and they will say "gossip." Gossip has ruined good people's reputations. Many people have been unfairly fired because of gossip. Gossip has prevented good people from getting jobs. Gossip has caused a lot of unhappiness on Indian Reservations and elsewhere.
Cheating
Everyone hates a cheater, and cheating is a form of lying. If you have ever been cheated out of anything, you know what I am talking about. Now when a whole program cheats, when an organization cheats, or an entire tribe cheats, think of the harm it can cause (This type of cheating is usually called non
compliance
Hypocrite
"Oh, how I hate a hypocrite" is a very common saying. A hypocrite is someone who feigns to be something they are not, usually a liar condemning other liars, or a person with poor work habits condemning other people with poor work habits, or a politician who says, "I'm here for the people," when they are not. Because hypocrites do not see their own dishonesty, they keep on living a "life of a lie" and continue to hurt those close to them.
These are just a few examples of how lying manifests itself in many different forms. And our ancestors understood this, hence they put a person who lied to death.
I know many people will say, "there are times when you have to lie." So, I googled, "Is there a time when it is okay to lie?" and there are many good reasons to lie out there -- if you want to see excuses to lie.
However, the most interesting and helpful comments I read were these two, "most lies are lies of convenience," and another person wrote, "if you do not want to lie, then don't say anything."
So even if you think the "little" white lies you tell do not cause you any trouble, think of how proud you will be of yourself if you can HONESTLY say, "I do not lie" and not lie when you say it.
Considering I am talking about our ancestors' hatred of lying, here is an interesting and ironic story I came across that I just had to share with you. I also added a reader's comment about how duty takes priority over lying.
If your family, with the exception of one child who managed to escape to the woods, was captured by Indians and the Indians asked you if you had any other children, having already killed the others, would it be wrong to tell them that you didn't have any others, thus lying? One group broke from the main church to start their own church, because they felt like you shouldn't have to tell them about your other child, knowing they were just going to kill them. Thus they earned the nickname the Lying Baptists. This was called Flat Rock Baptist Church, and later became Pleasant Grove.
Reader's comment -- Tricky one, but I feel if you have to lie for a broader betterment and good, then it should be okay. For instance, I think it was okay for the family to lie and say they had no other kids just to save the one that ran away in the woods. In Indian culture, we have dharma (duties) associated with each relationship that you portray, and your dharma calls for fulfilling of that duty. So here, the parents were fulfilling the duty of saving their child's life and actually saving the INDIANs from committing one less sin.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977127087
So... does doing one's duty make lying okay?
