What have you got to lose when your integrity is on the line?
-Everything
We love to evaluate the costs and benefits, especially before engaging in risky business. Self-interest at its best. Honesty is the best policy - but on our own terms only. Convenience first. Truth telling comes last, or never, perhaps? Ignorance isn’t fucking bliss. But heck, human beings lie to themselves all day long! Is it of any surprise that we bring others into our own whirlwind of lies as well?
What we do onto ourselves we ought to do onto others. If I treat myself like a piece of shit 24/7, chances are I’ll do the same to you, albeit unconsciously. It’s just a matter of transposing my personal parameters to other beings.
It’s ironic to see the faulty ways by which we operate. “I didn’t lie. I just didn’t tell them the whole story.” Since when does omission not make it into the lying equation? Any means is a valid excuse to protect our fragile conscience from realizing we’re not only full of shit, but full of untold truths too.
What’s more than self-conscience control? Damage control. Why tell the truth if my reputation is on the line? If my happiness is on the line? If I’ve got more to lose than to gain out of it? Is it really worth the risk? If living inauthentically with yourself is worth it, then I say sure go ahead, do it. You may not lose your job, your lover, your friends, your ego, your rep, your notoriety, but you’re losing your self-value.