The Book of Ten Sayings 3

 

What is the third most important saying of all time, one that will encourage wisdom and happiness, justice and equity? The saying is, 

 "It is not right to do evil in order to bring about good."

 

 This saying is, first, a warning against moral short cuts, against choosing expediency over morality; for such is the great temptation of man, whether the temptation presents itself as covetousness, lust, greed, a handy lie, the imitation of justice, or any other dash around the right way. Secondly, this saying entails another classical guide to wisdom: "Truth is always best." Whatever you suffer from telling the truth or doing the right thing, you will never have to add to your punishment the mental and physical tortures of guilt when your devious plan explodes in your face. The pain of knowing that you tried to fool, deceive, lie, cheat, steal, con another person only to see it shatter other people's lives as well as your own--that pain will not be there if you always told the truth. This Third Saying also embraces the Bible's commandment, "You shall not bear false witness." 

 

Some shrewd but sad person once noted that if you tell the truth, the supporting (true) explanations come automatically; whereas if you tell a lie, you must think of two other lies to support, excuse, and explain every other lie that brings credibility the other lies. The exponentiation cannot be long sustained: The main lie needs two lies to make it believable. Each of those two lies needs two lies to explain them. Each of those requires two lies to keep the falsehood afloat. 

 

 If civilization were honest and clear thinking, this saying could be summed up by, "Do only good." But since men are crafty and would soon claim that some expedient horror would actually be the "moral equivalent of a greater good," we must take care to avoid any ambiguity. 

 

 Implied by this saying is the classical virtue of Justice. If you sit back and do some deep contemplation of this Third Saying, you will soon discover that it is a clearer and more straightforward way of saying, "The means cannot be justified by the ends," or, as more commonly phrased, "The ends do not justify the means."