Liars Deceive Themselves First: A Life Lesson from Genesis 12

Some of what I've been suggesting as a re-interpretation of the Bible may be difficult to accept without question, especially with the number of competing beliefs and assumptions we already have running around in our minds.  We have certain ideas about other people and about what we have to do to survive in this world.  Not all of them are accurate, but they all seem absolutely true.  One of the most common conclusions we draw is that it would be easier to deceive others than to tell the truth.  Or if not easier, then at least safer or wiser.  As many of us know from experience, lies often wind up being much more costly than the truth in the long run, even when our motivation seems on target.

Reasons for lying or bending the truth often seem quite logical, but it almost always amounts to a matter of safety.  We think that we will be somehow safer if we keep the complete truth hidden.  Through maintaining falsehoods, however, we put ourselves in a position of constant threat.  At any moment, someone may find us out, our deception will be revealed, and we will suffer the consequences of that deception, regardless of the truth we initially sought to hide.

At their core, people are not frightening or untrustworthy.  It’s true that there are some people who do frightening things, and there are some individuals who betray confidences.  That doesn’t change the value of the adage that "honesty is the best policy."  Fewer people get hurt by honesty than by deception, and after all, most deceptions spring from fear that could be entirely irrational.  When we are willing to wrestle with the possibility that people may actually embody a deep truth, beauty, and inspiration, and that our fears may be nothing more than the creations of our own imaginations, deception seems quite unnecessary.

I have largely steered clear of story-telling because of how subject to interpretation stories can be.  For now, though, recall the story in Genesis 12 of a man journeying to a foreign land with his wife.  A famine had struck their own homeland, so they were traveling to a place of greater abundance.  This man didn’t trust the people of the foreign land, however, believing that the men of the land would kill him and take his wife.  So he told them that the woman with him was his sister and not his wife, thinking that this would keep them safe.  Since she was an attractive woman, the ruler of the land desired her.  After claiming that the woman was his sister, what could our traveler say to the ruler’s proposal of marriage?

The traveler was given many gifts as a result of his deception, and he lived a life of luxury since the ruler welcomed him as a brother-in-law.  But the ruler and his court soon experienced a plague of curses which could only be traced back to the marriage born out of deception.  Calling the traveler into his presence, the ruler rebuked him for his persistent lie, and he returned the man’s wife and sent them both packing.  They had to leave behind all of the gifts and luxury, and they were no longer welcome in a place that could have provided for them while their own land was in the throes of famine.  Although it may have held some benefit in the short term, deception wound up costing the man the very security he had lied to obtain.

There are those who will conclude, "Ah, but if the traveler hadn't lied, things would have been much worse."  Such arguments have very little merit.  No one can tell the future, and no one knows what would have happened if...  For every un-manifested bad consequence a person can imagine, a more desirable outcome could likewise be conceived.  The fact is that when we deal in deception, we rob ourselves of our innate value and we create a reality for ourselves defined by suspicion and fear.

Of course, the way we choose to express the truth also makes a difference.  Angry or belligerent truth-telling can be difficult to hear.  Such tones stem from some potentially false assumptions about the willingness of other people to hear truth and the ability of ourselves to speak it clearly.  Connection and trust often requires a bit of vulnerability, and when we are willing to see the intrinsic value, beauty, and inspiration in others and ourselves, that vulnerability and truth-telling becomes easier.

Letting Go of Shame: Genesis 4 Revisited

In response to a great suggestion about last week's entry, here is Genesis 4, which is primarily the story of Cain and Abel.  You can read it in whatever translation you prefer.  This may help to draw some lines of comparison between the original message and my revision, should you so desire.  I hope the spiritual truth I convey here stands on its own, but I also understand the value of tracing the train of thought back to the original text. 

One of the results of the fear that keeps us from honoring the truth and beauty and creativity within ourselves and other people is envy.  It may be that we fear that we won’t be taken care of, that we’ll miss out on some important experience, or that we won’t get a satisfying amount of respect and adoration.  Our fear may even seem justified when we see other people getting what we deem to be better results than we are.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of measuring people’s value by how much they own, the car they drive, the clothing they wear, the food they eat, or the house they inhabit.  These trappings don’t impact a person’s value one iota.  People have intrinsic value because of the truth, beauty, and creativity within them, not their bank account or lifestyle.  When we have wealth, we fear losing it; when we see other people with more than we have, we fear that we will not have enough.  And of course, there are plenty of other fears about wealth and lifestyle.

The frightening thing is that we sometimes do atrocious things to one another out of fears that are based on misguided nonsense.  Our fears lead us to insult, steal, and even kill.  Our fears create conflict where none needs to exist.  Once again, shame often springs up in the wake of our fear-based actions, and instead of seeing the truth and beauty and creativity in ourselves and others, instead of being inspired by the world around us, we seal ourselves off from it and suffocate our own souls from the connection upon which we thrive.

We can recover from our misdeeds.  Other people can recover from our misdeeds (and their own).  The world can recover from our misdeeds.  It may not be pleasant, and it may take time, but the possibility always exists for true connection with the natural world, with other people, and with ourselves.  It is up to us to break the spiral of fear and shame which stifles connection, and to embrace the truth and beauty and creativity that can bring us back around to satisfying relationship.  This requires being boldly honest with ourselves.

What Matters Most: Genesis 1-2 through a new lens

We are here in this time and place. We don’t truly know much about what happened in the beginning, although there are some plausible theories. We know more about human history, but even that has been recorded by biased hands. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter how we got here; what matters is that we are here. Any number of beliefs can satisfy personal desires for an origin story, but none of them can change the facts of where and when we are. And we are here in this time and place.

And this is an inspiring time and place. There is truth and beauty everywhere we might choose to settle our gaze. There is truth and beauty and inspiration in the brightness of day, with its vibrant color and crisp detail. And there is truth and beauty and inspiration in the depth of night, with its myriad stars and evocative darkness.

There is truth and beauty and inspiration in the oceans, with their mysterious depths and rhythmic tides. And there is truth and beauty and inspiration in the skies, with the bright blue of midday and the full spectrum of sunrises and sunsets. There is truth and beauty and inspiration in the solid ground, whether it is red clay or shifting sand, angular stone or mist-shrouded marshland.

There is truth and beauty and inspiration in the vast variety of plant life around us, from gargantuan redwoods to dandelions, bearing fruit that is pleasing to taste and flowers that are pleasing to gaze upon. They have the capacity to nourish us, to heal us, and to teach us if we are willing to see and learn.

There is truth and beauty and inspiration in the seasons and the weather, whether in the white cold of winter or the red heat of summer, in the midst of windless calm and in the midst of the fiercest storm. And there is truth and beauty and inspiration in the creatures with which we share the planet, whether they be birds that soar across the expanse of the sky or creatures that glide on currents far beneath the surface of the water. There is truth and beauty and inspiration in the domesticated creatures we care for and the creatures who thrive in the wilderness, even the lizards and insects in our own backyards.

There is truth and beauty and inspiration in the people we encounter, whether we share with them a moment or a lifetime. In every human being there is a glimpse of what some call the divine: the very essence of truth, beauty, and creativity. Each person therefore has value by possessing that spark which is common to all of humanity. And when we are willing to see the divine in others, we are more likely to see our own honest, beautiful, and creative selves.

It is also important to rest, to remember the value of rejuvenation. Just as nature needs time of dormancy and the rejuvenation of water, so do we need times of stillness and rejuvenation for our bodies and our minds. We offer our best and receive the greatest satisfaction from life when we intersperse our experiences of activity with rest.

We are not here in this place and time to suffer or to cause suffering, but rather we are here in this place and time to respond to the truth, the beauty, and the inspiration which is all around us, to find our own unique voice and speak with boldness and love, to be truth, beauty, and inspiration for one another.

No person is an isolated being. We are at our very core relational. We are in constant relationship with the natural world around us, and we are in constant relationship with one another. These connections are as vital to us as physical nourishment.