People lie fundamentally. It is a part of every human's nature to skew the truth for his or her own benefit. These lies occur both consciously and subconsciously. In order to function in the world one must accept and understand the way a person's emotions twist the truth.
Complete falsehoods serve as the mental prototype for lying. For example, when a man pleads innocent and a witness says he is guilty, one of the two told a straight lie. This is easily recognized as a breach of trust between the individuals. Surprisingly, this is among the least common forms of lying.
Bending the truth is a more common form of lying. Many people do it constantly. The teacher asks a student why he didn't do his homework; "I didn't have time," he replies. In most cases, he easily could have made time, but didn't. If the student had been completely honest and said, "I really don't care about this class so I chilled on the couch and didn't bother to open my book," he would have been marching double time to the office. Society and human nature make it profitable to tell people what they want to hear.
Unexpectedly, the most common form of lying occurs mentally. People react from situations with emotions. These emotions form the truth that ends up as a memory in their brain. Many complex and subtle lies go into this process. The exact truth is never quite exact. People believe what they want to believe and what is the easiest for them to accept.
According to this, the most common lies are not against the law or even against honor. Lying is merely an effort by our brains to protect us from the truth and to keep us alive, whether or not we should know it.
