Recently, someone accused me of being deliberately misleading, saying that I couldn’t be trusted.  He was calling me a liar. That accusation shocked and hurt me. I spent most of that evening and the next day with my attention bouncing between outrage, the desire for vengeance, then vindication. 

What I realized after digging into my feelings was that, although this time (the incident he specifically referenced) I was not lying, I have certainly lied in the past — to many people, about many things.  It’s hard to identify to oneself as a liar; most of us self-identify as honest, trustworthy. 

Being honest to myself, dropping the ego and admitting my transgressions is very difficult.  I can see now what he saw.  No overt lie, but acts that were never true to myself.

“Liar, Liar, pants on fire!” – paraphrased William Blake, “The Liar.”

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