I finally said, “Stop Lying to me! Enough lies. Is everything a lie?”

And then there was quiet. And then there were more experiences.

And then I said, “Ah, but I am also a liar.”

And then there was quiet, and some more experiences.

And then I thought to myself, “Well, aren’t we all liars then?”

I looked at my friend, and it became apparent that he was lying to me. And then at my other friend, and he was lying to himself. And then I looked at my third friend, and he told me about he lied, and at a fourth friend, who told me that he hated liars.

And then I quietly smiled and stopped talking to them.

I started a dialogue with myself.

“How do we lie? How do we deceive? Why do we do it? Is it possible to identify lies, to know an honest answer from a deceitful one, to know the real intentions of others? Is it possible to recognize when we deceive ourselves? Or perhaps I am thinking about all this the wrong way. Perhaps we are meant to lie. Perhaps lying is a necessary part of life, and instead of trying to study it, I should experience it – the beauty and ugliness of it, to embrace all of its sides…”