AssemblyBoard

i don't know if anyone else here finds this kind of stuff interesting, but just in case:

http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/11655.html

even if a physical link between habitual lying and brain structure can be proven, it doesn't mean liars simply can't help it because they are wired that way. it just means they are wired to be very good at lying -  should they choose to do so. but given all the short term benefits of really fantastic lying, i would think people who are great at it experience a much stronger compulsion to do so than the rest of us. than again, maybe people who lie a lot from childhood develop more white matter than the rest of us over time. correlation is not causation. but i think its interesting that a physical correlation exists.

an example we are all too familiar with would be george, who must be dripping with white matter, with just a hint of grey. and i have met other people like him, in business especially. they are great at making a quick buck, even better at losing it, and their personal lives are a complete wreck. its a terrible strength to have.

really fascinating study, brian.

i would also add that children who get away with lying during their childhood learn how to hone their lying skills. even if they get caught occasionally, they simply learn how to adapt their lying skills, strengthening their ability to to tell more believable lies (their growing brains become physically altered). once they realize they can actually fool people (their parents, for one) i would suggest it's a highly addictive behavior not easily broken.

from what i've gathered, george was a habitual liar even in childhood. despite what may have been a true conversion experience at age 15, he had already developed a behavioral pattern that was by then already part of his personality.

what's most interesting is that pathological liars not only lie to others, but it begins with the lies they tell themselves. truly brilliant liars are those who actually believe their own lies and will defend those lies as passionately as if they were truth.

but like you said, the lies eventually grow too large to contain and the state of george's personal & "professional" life is a terrifying example.

"Lying is the mother of all violence." ---Gandhi

This is exactly what makes it so difficult for an honest person to detect a lie:  The skilled liar treats his lies as the truth.  The honest listener senses honesty from the liar because the trained liar genuinely believes what he is saying.  He (the liar) has convinced himself, making his convincing of others no more difficult than presenting the truth.

While these latest discoveries (http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/11655.html) are interesting, the prospect of what today's or tomorrow's society might do with the information is chilling.  There are many ramifications at which the article barely hints.

We will do well to always bear in mind that all lies come from the devil (Jn.8:44), and that it is the nature of fallen man to adopt the lie as a primary tool in resisting God both as Creator (Rom.1:25) and as Redeemer (1Jn.2:22).  But our safeguard against lies is not in merely knowing these things, but in our personal relationship with The Truth (Jn.8:31-32).

al

P.S.-- In light of the discovery chronicled in the article, I can almost picture the devil patting himself on the back for having coined the term, "'white' lie."