The Lying is Making Me Lose My Mind

The Truth Will Set Us Free

January 20, 2025. We will honor the life and birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And we will inaugurate the 47th President of the United States of America. Donald J. Trump. An indicted criminal. A liar-in-chief. Is that too blunt?

I once read an article that lying was on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic. Why? In a 1996 study, it was discovered that in their everyday life, people tell one to two lies a day, lies they don’t consider harmful. As people desperate to leave isolation and sheltering sought to re-enter their former lives, researchers noted the rate of lying increased. Questions about symptoms and exposure to someone who has tested positive, when answered dishonestly, could have catastrophic effects. Yet this dishonesty was documented. Robert Feldman, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst suggested that the fact that we’d been through a tough period with COVID-19 with no end in sight gave people permission to be less honest.

In a February 16, 2017 article called, “Thou Shalt Not Speak Alternative Facts: Religion and Lying,” Kimberly Winston at Religion News Service wrote a story about religious leaders and the importance of truth. Speaking about the damage lying does to the speaker, the victim of the speech and the person who hears it, Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb said,

“The potency of such speech is almost mystical because of the potential implications of such speech. If I overhear the president of the United States say a U.S. judge of Mexican ancestry is unfit for the bench and then I say or do something to heed that nativist, anti-Mexican sentiment, it can have life or death implications for myself and others.”

Whether lying about the number of American citizens dead in Puerto Rico after two storms, or about how COVID-19 would disappear over the summer or presenting alternative facts about how voting by mail would increase fraud in elections, lying became a national disease with the help of Mr. Trump, infecting politics, social media and the news with too many lies to count. In the context of this moment, catastrophes like the wildfires in California have afforded more opportunities to lie about how budget cuts and a lack of water fueled the fires.

This nation was built on lies about power, manifest destiny, and the superiority of some over others. Yet, as Howard Zinn wrote, “But I suppose the most revolutionary act one can engage in is to tell the truth.” Truth can dismantle the lies at the foundation of our nation and create a new America. Truth can free us and those around us to live without being shackled to the energy lying requires of us: It requires The continuation of the lies, the amplification of lies, the ways lies refuse to die. of lying, being caught, and making up more lies to cover our tracks.

Mother Teresa wrote, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” Telling the truth creates many ripples that change the world.

When I think of the dying, the mourning and grieving and all who need a word of hope to get them through these difficult days, I’m drawn to the truth more than a comforting lie. The truth is death is terribly hard; and we are living in times so difficult, they take our breath away. The truth is fear and doubt are totally understandable responses to times of crises. But for as long as we have truth, it can light our way to freedom.

The truth makes a personal spiritual, ethical and moral demand upon us. It wants to be said, known, told. It smarts, it hurts, and its inconvenient. But it is essential to our well-being. It cleanses our spiritual pallet, it restores our souls. Truth is a drink of water to a parched traveler. It liberates us from bondage. It builds trust and connections. It is the beginning of authentic living and joy. Truth eludes us at times, but we must pursue it. Truth is a spiritual practice that requires practice. And as Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote, “Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”

As children, we are often taught to keep our mouths closed to avoid conflict or getting in trouble. Well, that doesn’t work! What is unsaid is still there, just hiding in the dark, waiting to pounce. The pressure to keep the peace causes adults to fail at being honest; and there is no such thing as a white lie. A lie is a lie. In a meeting with colleagues if we are dishonest, we are lying. When teaching our children or relating to our family of origin, if we not honest, we are lying. Our children are observing our relationship the truth. Alternative facts are not the truth. Though it is risky to be honest, I strongly believe the truth will set us free. We can practice telling the truth as an act of liberation. As June Jordan wrote, “To tell the truth is to become beautiful, to begin to love yourself, value yourself. And that's political, in its most profound way.”

The truth is our nation is in trouble. The truth is half of us are not sure that is true. The truth is fascism is rising around the globe and the only way to face the difficulty of these days is to be blunt and honest about what is happening. The only things we can change, James Baldwin taught, are the things we face.

Love,

Jacqui