I didn’t realize how often I lied until I stopped lying completely.
It wasn’t an intentional decision. Two summers ago I did my first ten-day silent meditation retreat, and we were required to sign five vows to join the program, including a vow of honesty. I didn’t know this until I arrived. But when you’re about to begin ten days in silence, signing your name on a vow not to lie does not feel like a bold step. At the end of the retreat, however, we were told the vows, which also include no killing and no stealing, now apply to the rest of our lives.
I’ve always been a literal person, often to a fault. I have the opposite curse of a flaky person – if I say I’m going to do something, I’ll do it, even if it no longer serves my interests. Having learned that I just agreed not to lie for the rest of my life, I decided to give it a try.
I wanted to see how my life would change if I lived without lying on matters both small and large.
It’s important to note that this was not a vow of radical honesty, which has you speaking everything that’s on your mind. This was a simple vow promising that whatever you do say is true. There’s no exception for white lies or lies to comfort someone. The only exception I allowed was to protect someone. I would, without doubt, lie to save another person’s life or my own. There would be no other excuses.
