Did you ever hear the riddle? If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it really make a sound? Both sides of the spectrum on this risible debate have valid arguments.
Yes - Of course it does! Just because someone isn’t physically there to hear it, doesn’t mean that the sound was still not created!
No - Unless someone is actually there to hear and confirm such given sound, only then does it exist.
This battle conjured up thought in my mind. What if the same rule was to apply when someone lies? Ok… where am I going with this, let me explain by example:
Let’s say you and I are best friends. We do a lot together, and know each other inside-out and we both benefit from this relationship. Only there is one difference between us. We both follow different religions. Let’s say you are a Christian and I am a Buddhist. Neither one of us acknowledge it, or even speak of religion in general. Let’s say one day I find out that you are a Christian by random conversation. I overhear you speaking to someone else that your religion is the best and you refuse to be a friend to any person of any other belief.
So now you confront me:
“Hey, what religion do you follow?” (very blunt, I know)
“I follow Christianity of course!”
Fantastic, we are both bifflez…
Wait one minute though, I lied to you? Look familiar? The tree has fallen, now let’s see if it makes a noise…
For the rest of our lives, you go on thinking I am a Christian, our relationship stays fantastic throughout both our lifetime and no conflict arises. Great! The tree has fallen and no noise was made!
My point? A lie something so vile, considered so evil, did nothing but maintain our perfect relationship. The only causality (one would argue) is that I did not stay true to myself. Which, if you believe the tree still does make a noise when it falls in the woods with no one around, means that only then would you be affected. That last line may seem a bit confusing, so let me follow it up with a summary:
In a situation where a person is faced with a decision that conflicts with what they benefit and what they feel internally, is it wrong to lie? Does it really matter if you lied and it didn’t effect the outcome of what you benefit from? Is being true to yourself worth losing something valuable?
What if the tree doesn’t fall? What if we all let our trees stand, and we don’t have to lie to keep our trees standing, and rather be one large forest, accepting of each living thing that breaths among us…