Father Zossima advises a sinful man who can't stop lying

[humble soul]

This is a great passage from Brothers Karamazov.

"Above all do not lie to yourself. A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anyone around him., And thus falls into disrespect towards himself and others. Not respecting anyone, he ceases to love, and having no love, he gives himself up to passions and coarse pleasures, in order to occupy and amuse himself, and in his vices, reaches complete bestiality and it all comes from lying continually to others and himself. A man who lies to himself is the first to take offense. It sometimes feels very good to take offense, doesn't it? And surely he knows that no one has offended him, and that he himself has invented the offense and told lies just for the beauty of it, that he has exaggerated for the sake of effect, that he has picked on a word and made a mountain out of a pea- he knows all of that, and still he is the first to take offense,, he likes feeling offended, it gives him great pleasure, and thus he reaches the point of real hostility....."

 

[humble soul]

Written 140 years ago. But still applies today. Look at Twitter. People lie and take offense all the time. in order to boost their political stance. Exaggerate your opponents faults. Make a mountain out of a molehill. Or minimise your own mistakes.

 

[humble soul]

I know because I've played those political games on twitter. I was as bad as anyone else. I rarely go there these days. Not that I've reached spiritual perfection myself yet.
God told me the other day "Humble you've improved but can you please stop trying to be funny! That's the worst sin of all. Not being funny!"

 

[Corn Pop]

This is about liars in the world, so the moral of the story goes, nobody likes a liar even when they are telling the truth.

Its based on a story called "the little boy who cried wolf nazi".