Did George Washington Ever Tell a Lie?

"Deception and con games are a waynof life in all species and throughoutnnature. Organisms that do not improventheir ability to deceive-and to detectndeception-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" nothers? White, black or gray?

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

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

Through outwitting predators our species nsurvived.

Survival is a basic instinct hard-wired ninto our brains. As our brains evolved, nwe developed cooperation. That involves ntrust and telling the truth. That, too, nhelped us survive: tribal teamwork.

A capitalistic economy is the natural nresult of these two instincts in our nsubconscious, primitive minds: ncompetition and cooperation.

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

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

Using neuroimaging, scientists are looking ninside the mind to see why people buy, nsell, save or trust. They see which part of nthe brain lights up during financial nnegotiations.

Researchers at MIT wired the brains of ncurrency speculators. They plotted the nbiological indicators of stress, nexuberance and tension against real time nprofit and loss. Such measures document nhow involuntary emotions affect the rise nand fall of stocks.

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

But you know that. I'll stop nbelaboring the point and wrap up with nthese:nn* George Washington lied because he was nhumann* It may be normal to lie, but only nmomentarily profitablen* It's normal to lie to ourselves, but nalways unprofitable to do so.

And one more quote:

"The people who burned witches at the nstake never for one moment thought of ntheir act as violence; rather they nthought of it as an act of divinely nmandated righteousness. The same can be nsaid of most of the violence we humans nhave ever committed." Gil Bailie

This can be paraphrased: The people who nswindled others never for one moment nthought of their actions as wrong; nrather they thought of it as ncapitalistically mandated righteousness.
The same can be said of most of the nhigh stakes gambles corporations take.

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

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

Lies to yourself are black, indeed. the nbest way to uncover such lies is to learn nwhat is on your subconscious mind. i foundna few surprises in mine.