Life is effectively testing you every day. You will be presented with choices and be asked to make decisions constantly and the choices you make will have an impact on who you become afterwards. The world is not a “good” place and is not filled with well meaning people, despite their kind faces and their sweet words. You need to be on guard for this or you will end up regretting it later on.
In everyday life you will be asked to do certain things, to say certain things, to behave a certain way and the person asking you may use psychological tactics to get what they want, or they may try to persuade with rewards for your behaviour. You must recognise this situation and deal with it properly because the consequences of going along to get along may well rot your very being from the inside.
At first the requests may be small and insignificant, but there will likely be a part of you that feels that it is wrong. It’s true the rewards for doing these things are tempting and could make your life easier in the short term, but it is a slippery slope and the little wrong you do today could lead you to committing a crime at a later date. This is because you become desensitised to the wrong doing and that voice of caution within you fades every time you get away with doing the wrong thing.
The same thing goes for mistakes you may have made and you are presented with a decision to own up to them or to lie and save yourself. This kind of test is purely internal but the consequences are the same as if someone asks you to do wrong. You may live to fight another day, but a small piece of you is now dead.
You may be reading this and thinking that if you can keep getting away with it, using your intelligence, persuasion, your charm, that there will be no consequences for you. But this is not how the world works. You may run on for a long time, but in the end you will come apart and wrongs will be righted. Some people in this position cannot even admit to themselves that they have been caught in the wrong even when evidence is presented to them. They may commit suicide to escape blame. This of course may seem like a win to them but that’s them done for good, there’s no coming back from that. Similarly people who can’t admit their wrong doing and go to jail for crimes they have committed can be forever changed, they may become a shadow of the person they once were.
In all types of deception it changes the person forever and there doesn’t appear to be a way back for many of them. Of course repentance and seeking forgiveness is a route for some, and they may return to something like their prior state, but in general the person you once knew is gone and they can never be trusted ever again. Even small things that are never uncovered will change a person, innocence is lost and a fear of discovery makes one anxious and that can cause all sorts of issues in one’s life They may lose friends, they me be unable to sleep, they may becoming a contorted personality that is unrecognisable from their younger self.
It is far preferable to stand in the truth at all times, and own up to your mistakes and to know that when that crunch time comes it’s easier to tell the truth than it is to lie. The lie will corrupt a person and that builds a ledger in their own head which will ultimately weigh them down. It is better by any measure to face the cold hard truth of ones mistakes, admit them publicly, and then to take the consequences and move on with a free conscience. Being able to sleep at night is a gift that is worth more money that you could ever steal!
You may not see the weight of lying building up on your shoulders yourself but it will show to others, and over time it will become a huge burden to bare, to great a burden for many. Each little deception will carry with it a penalty. We’re all taught right from wrong as children and those lessons become bright and clear in one’s mind when you are sitting alone on a throne of lies.
Doing the right thing is easy, and with it comes piece of mind. This is something you can practice, perhaps with a little issue like telling a white lie about why you can’t go out to meet someone. If you make something up, there is a cost in the long term. If you tell the truth, you may get a little spike of pain which is instant and brief but that will not compound over time, and you’ll get used to that little zap of anguish, of anxiety, and you’ll find that it will pass.
The truth is a slow but giant monster, and it can defeat any lie given enough time. This is why liars and cheats move very fast, they try very hard to corrupt others and they will also try and stop people speaking of this. It’s their way of trying to escape the pursuit of time.