Why we are constantly lying to ourselves and others

I’m reading for the second time “In search of the Miraculous” by Ouspenskii. Here are some controversial notes.

Almost all humans are living entirely like machines. Everything they do is pre-conditioned by their parents, education, the culture they grew up in, etc.

Most humans lie all the time. They lie to others and lie first to themselves. They lie to themselves because they can only see their world through the lens of the above conditioning.

To see our lies to ourselves and others we need to get out of the program that turned us into machines.

It could be a a friend calling your bullshit, a teacher, a psychiatrist, a meditation retreat, psychedelics or other ways to get out of the default mode network. The next challenge once we see outside of the machine program is to keep the level of awareness to continuously see it and our own tendency to lie all of the time.

According to Gurdjieff you need a “shock” to see the illusion and your own lies. “I am spiritual” or “I am a good person” aren’t lies if the behavior goes with the words. Sadly most people don’t walk the path they claim to be on and their behavior is far from their words.

Wars for example could be avoided if all parties understood that they’re only acting on their own program that told them that their race, country or religion mattered or even existed. Countries are an illusion, nature did not create them, there is no need to fight for one’s country since it’s an illusion to begin with.

We could end wars if enough humans understood the program they are running on and how they’re lying constantly to themselves and others.