Lier's and Cheats

Why do we lie? There are as many answers for that as there are ways of lying. But, I think you have 3 basic reasons for lying:

1. To avoid pain, or punishment.
2. Your keeping a secret, which is either embarrassing or risk danger to you or someone else if you tell it.
3. In an attempt to make yourself look better; smarter, wealthier, etc.

Of course, you always have the people who can't help but lie; a "compulsive lier". But, how often do people lie about that in order to avoid punishment?

The world, with the advent Internet especially, seems to now be full of almost nothing but lier's. Online you can lie about your age, sex, weight, height, etc. Yet, this is a problem that people have both suffered and indulged for thousands of years. Think about make-up, an invention traced back to Ancient Egypt, made specifically to fool others about your appearance. Sure, we take it pretty lightly in this day and age with millions of dollars being spent on make-up, push up bra's, tummy tucking underwear, plastic surgery, and on the list goes without end.

I've always wondered about this need of ours to lie, even to impress those around us, as to why we feel the need to constantly create a false image of things. For example; Shouldn't the person whom you fall in love with, and vice versa, be in love with you. Not a false image of you, but you, with all your quirks, blemishes, scars, etc. Lying is not new, the reasons haven't changed and almost everyone has done it at least once. But, the question remains, why can't we stop the lying? Do we need it like a drug?

Ask yourself next time you tell a lie, even a "little white" lie, why am I doing this? What is the point? I think you'll find that a lot of the lies you tell serve no purpose, other than it's almost like a subconscious habit.