There is an ancient idea, perhaps best expressed in the New Testament, which states that before a human being can hope to awaken, he or she must have not enemies. When you lie to someone, you have automatically made an enemy because you will always resist that person out of fear that he or she will expose your lie at any given moment. Therefore, not only have we made an enemy when we lie, we also make ourselves nervous, jumpy, and agitated in the attempt to protect the lie. And when we talk about lies and lying, we are not referring only to verbal statements that are false. Any form of pretense--pretending to be something you are not--is also lying.
There are parts of us that are convinced that we have to live with lies in order to keep our existence peaceful and protected, but can a man who lies to another person ever know peace in that person's presence? No--having to protect a lie brings anything but peace.
