Tall Tales & Lies

I wonder - how tall can a tale get before it tumbles? Probably depends on the ground it's standing on.

Recently I've had some encounters and experiences which had me thinking about the concept of lying. What is a lie to start with? You could say it's something untrue. I think most people have a feeling that lies are deliberate, and that the liar has an absolute intent of deceiving for some reason. But the motifs for telling a lie are not always clear, not even to the liar, and sometimes he (or she) might not be aware of the falsity at all. Or he might know it's not true but only a story, and that the "recipient" share that belief. Here the lie appears when there's a discrepancy between intended meaning and the perception of it .

We've all heard about white lies, the ones we tell to spare someone from getting hurt. And from an objective point they seem justifiable as well. But personally I think one should be just as careful with them, 'cause at least I need to relate to facts and truth in order to progress. It might feel bad at the time but so much better in the long run.

My brother had a boss once (also the founder of the company) who was a compulsive liar, or a mythomaniac. This man seemed to be so absorbed by his own stories, that he just couldn't see how preposterous they were. Places he'd been and things he'd done, all so fantastic that it was obvious to everyone (except himself) that he was lying. The thing is; when you meet someone like that, you also know that not everything is a lie, but how to separate them from the truths? When small kids tell these exaggerated stories (and they do!) it can be kinda cute, but they will most of the time learn to limit their imaginations. If not they grow up to be like Baron von Münchhausen, who flew to the Moon and pulled himself out of a swamp by his own hair...

I see now I've been told quite a few lies, only because I wanted to believe; and that's make me the guilty one, not the liars. These are small innocent lies, probably said with best intentions, but I still feel my intelligence is insulted somehow. Don't do that, please.