Lie that saves

A tree and a vine

There was a man who was ill and in hospital. As he lay on the bed, he looked out of a window. All he could see was a tree and a vine that twisted itself around the tree.

The vine was shedding its leaves, and to the patient, it seemed to mirror his own condition. As the vine was shedding one leaf after another and was withering away, so was his life ebbing.The patient felt that just as the vine was dying, so as each day passed, he was nearing death. This left him depressed, and this depressed state of mind

was impeding his recovery.The patient’s friend, who visited him in hospital, was worried that the man would never recover.

The vine kept shedding leaves and was left with just one leaf, and the patient thought that if that leaf fell, that would be the end of his life. And so he went to sleep in a disturbed state of mind.

Dramatic recovery

The next morning, he woke up and saw the leaf still on the vine, and was relieved. The leaf stayed on, and from then on, the man’s recovery was dramatic.

But the truth of the matter was that what the man saw was not a real leaf at all. His friend, who had visited him, was an artist. The artist, in order to save his friend’s life, had stayed up the whole night

and painted a leaf on the tree trunk, making it appear that the vine hadn’t shed its last leaf. Thus, the illusion that the artist created saved the patient’s

life. It was deception, but it was a deception that saved a life.

Honesty is said to be the best policy, but is it always

necessary to be truthful? Or are there times when a little dishonesty is necessary? How do we decide when to be honest and when to speak an untruth?

That which does not harm anyone is what needs to be said. If the truth is likely to hurt someone or harm someone, it would be better to utter falsehood than to be truthful. The lie that saves is better than the truth that kills, Suki Sivam said in a discourse. He went on to give an example to show how a lie can save.