Lies, Delusion, Power, and Happiness

On an internet forum today, people were criticising ex-cult leader Andrew Cohen and his followers for lying. This brings up an interesting question: 

Can we speak the truth all the time? 

I reckon that the world is currently deluded, and it is punitive if you do something it conveniently decides is wrong. So you have to lie to protect yourself, unless you are a saint who has done no wrong, which is probably impossible in this world. 

Even the most powerful people in the world lie to protect themselves, and this fact suggests that real power isn't in status or wealth, but rather in the widespread nature of delusion itself. Therefore, we should ideally focus on the real problem, not on particular individuals or groups; and the real problem is the existence of widespread delusion.

The fundamental delusion is the belief that happiness is found in states or objects rather than being innate to being. Until the falsity of that belief becomes widely understood, much of what we do will be a waste of time and energy, and create unnecessary unhappiness.