No. 75 Lying

Facillitator:
Date:

Group Session Plan from FUSN (developed by Bill Horne)

Opening Words
You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some
of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.
Abraham Lincoln

Lying is done with words and also with silence. Adrienne Rich

A lie is an abomination unto the Lord, and a very present help in trouble.
Combination of Proverbs 12:22 and Psalms 46:1

One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled
long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. The
bamboozle has captured us. Once you give a charlatan power over you,
you almost never get it back. Carl Sagan

Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes,
that he also believes to be true. Demosthenes

When in doubt, tell the truth. Mark Twain

It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and expose lies.
Noam Chomsky

People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.
Otto von Bismarck

Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive! Shakespeare

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Topic
We begin with the assumption that lying is an assault on the self,
and as such, a violation of the spirit as well as the possibility of any
meaningful spiritual practice. But where do we go from there? Have we not
all lied? Did you ever feel compelled to lie - out of kindness or love, fear
or embarrassment or stubbornness? For some other reason? What is the
central theme of the lies you tell others or yourself? So what about lying
and spiritual practice? Or moral rectitude? Can you reconcile them?

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Closing Words
Who had deceived thee so often as thyself? Ben Franklin