Mussar | A Lesson on Truth

Do you have examples of little manipulations of truth like these that you also commit? If you act carefully and no one catches on, they don’t really even have any negative consequences, do they? But these sorts of behaviors are important to those on the Mussar path, not because of their outcomes, but because of what motivates them. Peel back the behavior and you are almost sure to discover that the source of the lie is a fear of something or other. We lie out of fear of facing someone else’s disappointment, or disappointing ourselves, or fear of shame, or loss, or any other number of possibilities.