'A commitment to honesty is a kind of mirror that you hold up to yourself, where you can discover who you are in relationship to others, and in relationship to your moment-to-moment experience.' Book Excerpt: 'Lying'Īmong the many paradoxes of human life, this is perhaps the most peculiar and consequential: We often behave in ways that are guaranteed to make us unhappy. 'When you give yourself the out of lying, you deny yourself the kinds of collisions with reality that are necessary to improve your life,' Harris said. 'When you're pretending to be someone you're not, you're paying a price, even if it's not obvious to you.'īut not only does lying damage relationships with others, it discourages self-improvement. 'When you're lying, you're constantly playing this game where you're having to keep track of what you said, and it's the antithesis of integrity and openness and authenticity,' Harris told Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson. Neuroscientist and best-selling writer Sam Harris says lies of any color are damaging. It's the subject of his latest book, ' Lying.'Īccording to Harris, lies damage relationships with other people. Neuroscientist Sam Harris says lying - no matter how large or small the lie - is damaging. Facebook Email This article is more than 9 years old.

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