The Art of Lying (Part One)

When a person lies, usually it is a conscious attempt to lead a person in another direction than the person would otherwise have taken. Although lies of course share the common feature of deceit, they come in many forms. I've listed some of the more common forms below--not necessarily to suggest any ideas, but to provide an indication of what to beware of:

1. Make a false statement. Such statements range from simple "the grass is blue" expressions to more sophisticated statements, such as stating that one's earlier statements were based on testimonies from people that made type 5 lies (see below).

2. Combine two unrelated, true statements to a third, false statement. This is often done by religious fanatics who argue that their teachings are true. They can provide numerous true examples of how their religion has helped people (for example, their religion may talk about helping people in need, and some people belonging to that religion may work in hospitals), but that doesn't mean their teachings are true.

3. Modify a component or change the order of components in a structure of true statements, so that the meaning of the structure is changed without making any type 1 lies. This is common in "spin control," where a different phrasing changes the "spin" of a statement.

4. Use idea association where unrelated components are added to a structure of true statements, changing the meaning of the structure. For example, we know that Stalin, Pol Pot, and the Chinese government all were/are proponents of state ownership of the industry. Completely unrelated to this fact, they all were/are responsible for human massacres. If this unrelated component is added, one is left with the impression that state ownership of industry implies massacres of the people.

5. Omit selected statements from a structure of true statements, changing the meaning of the structure. The classic version of this lie is the use of "snips" in statements, where it would be quite easy to reproduce an opponent's speech as follows (albeit more subtly than in this example): "the economic politics of the Democrats focus on (snip) rechanneling the economy (snip) to people that don't need money." Like the type 3 lie, this lie is common in spin control and commercials, where a product's weaknesses are omitted from the description of the product.

6. Ask a third party, whose statements are known to include the desired false statements, to provide an explanation. The third party will thereby be responsible for the lie.

7. Use a surprise attack, where you present a person with so vast amounts of information that the person does not have enough time to process the information. The person will then prefer to believe in an incorrect executive summary of the information rather than process the information himself.

8. Extrapolate, using an otherwise true statement beyond its valid range. For example, we often see Christians, who usually don't appreciate the idea of comparing humans with other animals, state that because a particular animal is monogamous, then so are humans.

9. Mention a false component in a way that makes it seem true. The old classic in the software development business is the defect that is said to be a feature.

10. Repeat the lie. Ignore all counter-evidence to your lie, and refuse to meet the objections. Then repeat the lie as often as necessary, still ignoring others' calling your bluff. Eventually your audience will perceive the lie as just a repeat expression, and although the lie is still recognized as a lie, the initial feeling of being lied to has lost its intensity, and the resistance from your opponents wanes.

If one always spoke the truth, one could simply repeat what had happened if one was to be asked at a later time. If one had originally told a lie, however, there is the potential problem that one must be capable of repeating the story without alterations. This places the demand on the liar that he or she either have a very good memory, or that the liar is able to forget that there ever was another truth than the lie.

Research of human consciousness has shown that human memory finds it easier to believe in that which requires the fewest mental resources to accept. Not surprisingly, in practice this means that a lie either has to seem so probable that it isn't necessary to think about it, or that the lie must provide a mental shortcut for the victim, providing a sort of "aha" experience that "explains" a series of complex connections or lack of same.

Perhaps the key skill is therefore to make lies look like truth. In the simplest version one may appear credible and persuasive when one lies. In a more advanced form, one can build confidence by introducing a type 1 lie with a number of demonstrations of truthful intentions designed to lead the victim into a trustful position. Feelings of guilt or an appeal to higher insight can lead a person to feel indebted or stupid, which will prepare the person to believe you. There are numerous such methods of setting the stage for a lie.

At a somewhat more "spiritual" level, lies is a war of space. In The Art of War, Sun Tzu explains how a battle is won by leading one's enemy into a desired (other) place. This creates a vacuum where the forces were moved from. A vacuum tends to be filled, and by placing one's own forces in the vacuum, the enemy can be hit there. The art is to find the right place to create a vacuum, and to lead the enemy to move his forces from that place.

The vacuum is thus "the place where the person was." In its most primitive form of war, a fist in someone's face is also a war of space. The attacked person is hit because the fist "removes the person from his space" and the fist fills the space where the head used to be. In some martial arts, a person can easily be thrown to the ground by exploiting the fact that certain movements create a natural "vacuum" that the person falls into. The vacuum is that person's weak point.

The perception of a lie as a war of space should be taken quite literally. A person's thoughts and attention is part of the person's body, and if the body is affected, so are the thoughts--and vice versa. Lies are used as "movements" that create a vacuum where the person's attention to the truth used to be, and becomes the place where the victim has a weak point. Depending on the character of the lie, the person may simply fall into the vacuum by drawing his own conclusions, or the victim will be dependent on the lies that the liar--quite tellingly--fills the victim with. As in a physical battle, there are many techniques for lying, and the techniques listed earlier are just a small taste.

If a person lies to himself, it is within the person himself that the vacuum exists. Most people that know such a person understand it intuitively. The person defines himself by things outside of himself, is shallow and "empty." If such a person happens to lie to you only to feed his own self-deceit, it is the person's own vacuum that you might get drawn into. Beware of such people, because if war is a battle of space, then it is a war between you and that person--and that person has trained for combat his entire life.

There are many ways of figuring out whether a person lies. Similarly, there are many ways of making a person admit that he lies, often without the person ever being aware of it. Only an undetected lie is successful, and the liar must defend himself against a significant arsenal of weapons that can be used to reveal the liar. I will take a closer look at these methods in part two of The Art of Lying, which will appear on this blog in about a month. So bookmark this blog and check back often!

Part I, Part II, Part III