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"There is no God higher than truth", said Mahatma Gandhi. We can also rephrase the sentence and say that there is no good higher than the truth. It is duplicity and hypocrisy of human civilization that everyone wishes to hear truth but there are only a few who are willing to speak the truth. It is common to hear that truth is an old fashioned value which has lost relevance in the modern times.
There are millions of reasons for not speaking truth. Aldous Huxley said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad." Often people say that they speak lie so that they can avoid pain to their loved one. The bitter truth is considered to be more evil than lie. Some people say that knowing the truth can make you suspicious of the entire world. Some people say that truth can never be known fully and one should avoid speaking half-truth. Everyone has his own reason for not being truthful.
However, most of the reasons are fallacious and only to cover the real motive. Truth is the simplest and it is free from all complexities. It means conformity to reality or actuality. We all know the reality, yet we speak lie because we wish to avoid the consequence of the wrong actions by us. Since truth is bitter and we may lose by revealing the truth, we avoid it so that we are saved from the loss and benefited from the lie.
Since the benefit of lie in instant, it gives instant satisfaction and benefit. It is like a drug which, though harmful to the body and mind in the long run, provides extreme pleasure immediately. No wonder people get so much addicted to lie that do not even think before telling a lie. Truth on the other hand is like a bitter medicine which taste bad yet it cures the disease. Denis Diderot has rightly said,
"We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter."
When a person gets addicted to lies, then the truth become unbearable just like a drug addict cannot live without drugs. People commit all types of immoral and illegal acts under the influence of lie. A lie provide them a false protection as they believe that if they shall be caught, they will deny the whole thing by telling lies. Criminals and cheats have elaborate plans for every lie which can be spoken with confidence to convince others.
They somehow believe that their lies shall never be discovered.
However, once a lie is discovered, the person loses faith for his life. No one wishes to trust a liar just like no healthy person would like the company of a drug addict. The liars soon get isolated from others. They have to now speak even more lies to cover their earlier lies just like an addict has to take more and more dosage of drugs to get the same level of high. A liar soon loses his moral health as he cannot follow any moral path just like a drug addict soon gets infected with all types of diseases as his body loses the capacity to stand before the diseases. Only truth can save a man from falling in the trap of immorality. James A. Garfield has rightly said,
"The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable."
About this Author
Life is a mystery which can not be explained either by science or by scriptures. Truth has a body and a soul which we call science and religion. Contrary to popular perception, they are not opposed to each other but complement each other like body and soul. In fact, they can not exist without each other.
I am the founding member of The Science of Soul Foundation in India which works for the synthesis of the diverse disciplines of knowledge like science, religion, philosophy and arts. The website of the foundation is http://www.scienceofsoul.com.
I am working for the creation of a synthesis between science and religion through my articles. I believe that everyone can understand this Truth by the use of intuition and reason. You can contact me at aksinghirs [a] yahoo.com if you wish to know more about the mystery which we call life.
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