Did George Washington Ever Tell a Lie?

"Deception and con games are a way
of life in all species and throughout
nature. Organisms that do not improve
their ability to deceive-and to detect
deception-are less apt to survive."
Harriet Lerner

That's some quote, isn't it?

What do you think about lying?

Is it "right" sometimes and "wrong"
others? White, black or gray?

What lie did you tell today? I lied
when I said I would never again ride a
bus more than twenty miles. I lied
about my weight on my driver's license.
(Shaved off four pounds)

We Americans like to say George
Washington didn't lie because he was our
first president. But you know he did.
Everyone does.

Through outwitting predators our species
survived.

Survival is a basic instinct hard-wired
into our brains. As our brains evolved,
we developed cooperation. That involves
trust and telling the truth. That, too,
helped us survive: tribal teamwork.

A capitalistic economy is the natural
result of these two instincts in our
subconscious, primitive minds:
competition and cooperation.

In any business both buyer and seller
must trust each other and yet believe
that he or she got the best of the deal.
There may be some shaving of the
truth, but belief is what matters.

* * *

I'm excited about current brain research
applied to economics.

Using neuroimaging, scientists are looking
inside the mind to see why people buy,
sell, save or trust. They see which part of
the brain lights up during financial
negotiations.

Researchers at MIT wired the brains of
currency speculators. They plotted the
biological indicators of stress,
exuberance and tension against real time
profit and loss. Such measures document
how involuntary emotions affect the rise
and fall of stocks.

Harvard economist David Lailson writes,
"Our emotional brain wants to max out
the credit card even though our logical
brain knows we should save for
retirement."

But you know that. I'll stop
belaboring the point and wrap up with
these:

* George Washington lied because he was
human
* It may be normal to lie, but only
momentarily profitable
* It's normal to lie to ourselves, but
always unprofitable to do so.

And one more quote:

"The people who burned witches at the
stake never for one moment thought of
their act as violence; rather they
thought of it as an act of divinely
mandated righteousness. The same can be
said of most of the violence we humans
have ever committed." Gil Bailie

This can be paraphrased: The people who
swindled others never for one moment
thought of their actions as wrong;
rather they thought of it as
capitalistically mandated righteousness.
The same can be said of most of the
high stakes gambles corporations take.

It's called "white-collar crime". They
lie to themselves saying, " Everyone does
it and we can get away with it."

So, you see, it's human to lie, but "To
thine own self, be true", When you are
true to yourself and understand your
motives, all of your lies will be white
ones.

Lies to yourself are black, indeed. the
best way to uncover such lies is to learn
what is on your subconscious mind. i found
a few surprises in mine.