A New Jersey lawmaker, Troy Singleton, is trying to get a law passed that would make “rape by fraud” illegal, potentially making the perpetrator who obtains the consent of a another for sex on the basis of their outright deceit, criminally liable. With all the obvious problems of deciding what behavior constitutes such a fraud diminishing the likelihood of such a law actually being passed, it raises the question: how can we protect ourselves from the being taken in by such lies?

Because everything is energy, lies can actually be discerned without us having direct access to the truth. This is because lies have a different energy to truth. Lies feel different.

I did not understand this until I attended a workshop by a woman called Colette Baron Reid a few years ago. We paired up with a stranger and we each had to tell our partner firstly something that was true, and then something we knew to be false, and as we did this we paid close attention to how we felt in each situation.

I was completely surprised by my experience. The difference was stark.When I spoke the statement that I knew to be true, my body felt tingly, as if honey was running down the inside of me. When I told the lie, my throat discernibly closed and it felt like the words caught in my throat.

This was a profound experience for me as this was totally new information for me. I had always known that if I ensured that I was honest, I would be protected from the deceit of others, but I did not realize my body would be my greatest accomplice in discerning the lies of others. I did not understand that information can be accessed without it being directly relayed by written or spoken word.

I am now aware of a range of signs and prompts that tell me I am being lied to, and even when I am saying something that is not true, and may not be consciously aware of it - for instance, when I say something uncharitable or make a generalization that is hurtful or harmful to others. I get a catch in my throat that actually causes me to cough or want to clear my throat, and, especially in the case of serious deceit that may have significant consequences for my well-being, a ringing in my ears.

However, as Marianne Williamson, one of the pioneers who, with her book “A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles”, helped to usher in the new age, says, we must be prepared to look at our role in creating circumstances we find ourselves in.

For this reason, it is crucial that we are as honest as we can be. If we habitually lie, cheat, or obfuscate the truth in any way, the energy of deceit and fraud becomes our reality, our energetic mileu, and thus we are less able to discern truth. If we are used to by-passing truth, truth has a habit of by-passing us because the energy of truth is incompatible with the energy of deceit.

Dishonesty is as an unreal version of truth. Dishonesty appears as truth, it seems to represent the truth, but it is the opposite of truth, and for that reason it is, in one sense, unreal. Thus, when we are dishonest we actually attribute reality and power to unreality, which then causes our inbuilt truth detector to become confused. We cannot discern truth because we are so accustomed to substituting untruth for truth. We immerse ourselves in the energy of lying and, with time, we are less able to access truth, either in ourselves or in others.

The other way our actions may block our ability to discern truth is when we are tempted to believe we have something to gain by the lie. For instance, an industry insider dishonestly offers to help us kickstart our budding career if we sleep with them. Or someone tells us they love us purely to get us into bed with them. In these situations often we are tempted to believe the fraud because we so want it to be true. We want what they offer and we are prepared to override all the warning signals our body sends us (and our body sends them, always!).

Our bodies not only send all the physical signals and stimuli for the release of hormones and enzymes required to keep our body physically balanced. It also sends all the intellectual, physical and emotional signals to keep us spiritually whole and balanced. We have everything we need, right now, to be healthy and whole. Love is our essence, the energy of our very being, and love is truth. When we are motivated by, and give power to love in our lives, love becomes our shield and truth our sword.

When we love ourselves enough to be honest, to do the work to achieve and obtain what we desire without being tempted by misleading detours and shortcuts, and not to need others’ inauthentic professions of affection to know that all the love we need to be happy is sourced within us, then we will have all the power we need to remain immune to the seeming temptation to be taken in by lies, deceit and fraud - ours and others’.

Eileen McBride
Eileen McBride is the author of Love Equals Power 2, a spiritual seeker and teacher. This article was published on December 4, 2014.