Reading Mind 📖🧠

[EN] On Lying, by Saint Augustine (Augustine of Hippo).

I won't lie (laughs): reading this was such an exhausting experience that I couldn't even finish the book. I decided to put it aside for now at around page 40. I had some idea of ​​what to expect, but I didn't realize it would be so uncomfortable.

Not because it’s hard to hear, practice, or learn about the truth, but rather because the examples given—cases illustrating where and why lying shouldn't be used—are beyond bizarre.

Here are a few excerpts from the book:

[…] No one doubts that the soul is superior to the body, and that its integrity should be valued above the body's, since it can be preserved forever. Yet, who could claim that a liar’s soul remains intact?

[…] Unwanted violence inflicted upon the body should be termed an indignity, not a corruption. […] Therefore, in a situation where only voluntary corruption is possible, chastity can be preserved. Consequently, if an assailant were to violate a body—and this could not be prevented by counter-force, deliberation, or lying—we must surely say that chastity was not violated by another person's lust.

[…] lying presents itself as something even worse, because "destroying" is a greater act than "hating." For God may hate someone to a lesser degree—stopping short of destruction. But the one He destroys, He has both punished more severely and hated more vehemently. Indeed, He hates all who practice iniquity, but He destroys all who lie.

I know, I know. It’s a book written by a philosopher and theologian—predominantly Catholic and Christian—which explains the extensive and defensive reliance on doctrine. The idea that belief transcends ordinary concerns—since the soul must always prevail over the will and desires of the flesh (the body)—becomes strikingly evident in the text because of this. Yet, I cannot shake the discomfort I felt while reading it. Do not lie to bring comfort to another; for by lying, you not only corrupt your own soul but also corrupt theirs, depriving them of their greatest good: eternal life.

A lesson for myself: exclude religious texts from my reading list. Sure, I’m curious by nature, but it makes no sense to drag myself through a book I don’t enjoy or don’t agree with. Yet, to disagree, I need to know the material—so there lies the dilemma.

In any case, don’t lie. Not for the sake of your soul, but simply because lying isn’t right. It’s neither fun nor funny. It isn’t pleasant. It isn’t easy. It is neither fair nor honorable.