Lying

Read this after a recommendation from Kevin Rose on episode 21 of the Kevin Rose Show podcast. I found it rather dull to be quite honest, although it has made me consider my own honesty policy in a new way, so it wasn't a total waste of time.

Later...

I've found myself thinking of this book I don't know how many times since I read it. The message has stayed with me and I have to revise my rating to 3 and possibly even 4 stars.

Siempre me han hecho falta argumentos para explicarme y explicarle a los demas porque es bueno decir la verdad.

Hay frases muy buenas que refuerzan mi anhelo de ser sincero y me retan a ampliar mi rango de razonamiento frente a situaciones comunes.

A very short book with an extremely long-lasting message. My favorite tidbits of knowledge:

There are many circumstances in life in which false encouragement can be very costly to another person (...) [because] it is a kind of theft: it steals time, energy, and motivation a person could put toward some other purpose.
I continue to find that a willingness to be honest – especially about truths that one might be expected to conceal – often leads to much more gratifying exchanges with other human beings.
It seems that in protecting their egos, and interpreting their own behavior as justified, liars tend to deprecate the people they lie to.
Lying is the lifeblood of addiction.
A commitment to telling the truth requires that one pay attention to what the truth is in every moment.

While Lying is a quick read, it does raise some pretty thought-provoking points, and at the least has made me rethink the seemingly harmless white lie. There a few points in the book where I feel like Harris takes it a bit too far (extremes, and surprises), where he comes off more robot than human.

Une réflexion intéressante sur la propension à mentir dans la société actuelle. L'essai s'intéresse grandement aux “white-lies”, ces mensonges que l'on prononce tous pour éviter de blesser quelqu'un, ou cacher une situation gênante, et sur les problèmes qu'ils causent et qui pourraient être évités en décidant simplement de dire la vérité. La réflexion de base est très intéressante, le sujet est vaste et c'est le gros reproche que j'ai à formuler : l'essai est bien trop court et ne s'attarde que sur la surface du problème sans vraiment creuser en profondeur, alors qu'il y aurait grandement gagné en intérêt.

A clearly written and clarifying brief philosophical treatise. The basic message is that there's never really a good reason to lie, and there are a lot of ways to tell the truth, while still being discreet or keeping a secret, as long as we're willing to open up a bit and practice some honesty. He explores the “white lie”, and ways to turn white lies around into gentle truths. Overall, it's very convincing - great for dharma practice (right speech!). I also appreciated that, for something essentially philosophical, he kept the writing simple, immediate and understandable. His examples were particularly enlightening.

Absolutely superb. I've been accused of being blunt, even cruel, because of my wish never to lie to people. I never completely understood why I felt so strongly about being truthful (other than the fact I rarely was truthful as a young man - and had subsequently left that erroneous path). I now understand a lot better.

Everyone should read this.

Unexpectedly dogmatic, but thought-provokingly so. Lying and hypocrisy are pet peeves of mine to which I've devoted much attention over the course of my life, so as you might expect I am entirely in Harris's camp. I just can't rite as good as he does. So please, read this booklet. It's short. It's cheap. It's important.