The way I understand this is by differentiating what I call the plenty versus the scarcity mindset. Truth-telling engenders a plenty mindset. Lying engenders a scarcity mindset. I’ll explain. When the people around us are reliable and tell us the truth, including keeping promises they’ve made to us, we feel more confident about the world and our own future in it. We feel we can rely not just on them but also on the world to be an orderly, predictable, safe kind of a place. Even in the midst of scarcity, we feel confident that things will turn out okay. This is a plenty mindset. When the people
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