Lying Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00FK4ZSJO | Format: PDF
Lying Description
As it was in Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, and Othello, so it is in life. Most forms of private vice and public evil are kindled and sustained by lies. Acts of adultery and other personal betrayals, financial fraud, government corruption - even murder and genocide - generally require an additional moral defect: a willingness to lie.
In Lying, bestselling author and neuroscientist Sam Harris argues that we can radically simplify our lives and improve society by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie. He focuses on "white" lies - those lies we tell for the purpose of sparing people discomfort - for these are the lies that most often tempt us. And they tend to be the only lies that good people tell while imagining that they are being good in the process.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 1 hour and 15 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Four Elephants Press
- Audible.com Release Date: November 19, 2013
- Whispersync for Voice: Ready
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00FK4ZSJO
Those who know me know that I often say "reality is my God and integrity is my religion." By this I mean that what is real, as evidentially understood, is my primary allegiance, and living in right relationship to reality and helping others (and our species) do the same is my 'calling' and deepest inspiration.
In light of this stance, I must confess that I consider this little e-book by Sam Harris to be modern-day scripture (i.e., dependable guidance in the service of living in integrity -- that is, in right relationship to reality).
There are a number of excellent books on the subject of integrity and truth-telling, including those written by my friends and colleagues, Brad Blanton (Radical Honesty, The New Revised Edition: How to Transform Your Life by Telling the Truth and Practicing Radical Honesty, and Susan Campbell Getting Real: Ten Truth Skills You Need to Live an Authentic Life. I recommend each of these, but none quite covers the territory Sam does in this potent and inspiring little guide. I especially enjoyed his section on so-called "white lies", as well as the sections on Trust, Secrets, Faint Praise, and Mental Accounting.
To quote just one example of a sentiment all too seldom expressed in American culture today: "By lying, we deny others a view of the world as it is.
It's hard to judge the length of a kindle book, but this one is short enough to be considered a good chapter. It's Sam Harris, so it's well put, succinct, and a pleasure to ponder. He makes some excellent points about the effects, costs, and alternatives to lying - even small lies - and I believe I may become an even more honest person because of it.
Lying, he says, is "almost by definition a refusal to cooperate with others. It condenses a lack of trust and trustworthiness into a single act. ... To lie is to recoil from relationship." This is a brilliant observation, and it's almost seems like common sense. Harris goes on to make a case for vigilant truth-telling, quite well.
It is a strong argument, but it's not airtight. State secrets present an exception, he points out; espionage sometimes requires a complex set of lies. But spies, Harris says, operate under the ethics of war and therefore the "ethics of emergency," and are therefore not only exempt from the golden rule of truth-telling, they are irrelevant exceptions. "We can draw no more daily instruction from the lives of spies than we can from the adventures of astronauts in space. Just as most of us need not worry about our bone density in the absence of gravity, we need not consider whether our every utterance could compromise national security." This begs a question. Without a limiting definition of "emergency," emergency ethics *are certainly relevant to daily life. There is a spectrum of emergencies. I've had emergencies. If on one end lying is ok, the other end not -- doesn't that suggest a spectrum of wrongness to lying, as well?
As I read through it, interesting questions arose for me which unfortunately were not addressed.
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