Every excuse that comes from a person’s mouth contains some mixture of truth and falsehood. Sometimes, at best, it may be seven parts truth and three parts falsehood — or perhaps only three parts truth and seven parts falsehood.
In the end, every excuse necessarily involves some degree of deception. And every single act of deception — while deceiving another person once — requires that one deceive oneself three times. The ratio is one to three. Why?
First, one must prepare the lie — though those who are practiced at it may do so quickly.
Second, one carries out the lie according to plan — yet even this is not the end of it.
Third, one must keep track of what was said, or risk being found out. And for those who lie frequently, the situation becomes all the more precarious — for failure to keep track will certainly lead to exposure.
In matters of particular importance, one may need to keep track for an entire year to avoid being caught. The ratio thus becomes one to five, or even one to ten. The more frequently one lies, the more one’s mind becomes occupied with nothing but falsehoods. In time, even when speaking the truth, one begins to doubt oneself — wondering whether what was just said was the truth or yet another lie. And before long, the condition of forgetfulness and confusion — dementia, Alzheimer’s disease — will come calling.
August 14th, 2015
