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The
challenge of truth-telling "When
a man lies, he murders some part of the world." |
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Ah, truth-telling,
very tricky business. I really believe the above quote, but I've
found that it's so much more complicated than the surface meaning of
those words. What is our truth in any given moment, anyway, and
what represents lying? It is another of those GREAT BIG
QUESTIONS in life. Many people feel that if they say whatever's on
their minds at any given moment, then that's telling the truth.
But are we just our minds? Our minds tend to act on behalf of our
egos, or vice-versa, depending on your perspective, but it is not all
that's going on, is it? Aren't our immediate ego/mind responses to
any given situation often covering up some deeper truths we might not
feel like sharing in the moment, something about how we "feel"
at a deeper, more visceral level? So, OK, there's the possibility
of two things going on in the realm of truth at the same time.
Now, don't we also have a higher spiritual place we occasionally
(or more often, depending on our spiritual maturity) have access to,
whether you call it your soul, your spirit, your connection to
Christ, or the Holy Spirit - that place from which you can see
things from a much broader, more harmonious and peaceful perspective?
Isn't this a third place that holds some piece of truth, in fact, maybe
the truest truth of them all. Now, if we can accept the
possibility that any one of these, or all three, are places
from which YOU can speak to another, doesn't telling the truth, or
lying, take on a much deeper and richer meaning? So how do we
really "tell the truth" when all of these things might be going
on inside us at the same time? I don't have the answer to
this question for anyone else, but I do believe that staying in the
question creates a common place for us to connect with each other in a
way that doesn't have to commit murder in the world. |
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What I have found for
me, in my own unique life experience, is that accepting and honoring
(and being willing to talk about) the first two places (not as
"truth," but as what they are - vastly different human aspects
of me) gives me greater access to the third, where Highest Truth
(which is not really about me at all) lives and operates. I
know I'm speaking the richest truth when it's obvious I have
touched the heart of another, because when I reach that third place
where truth lives, it only knows how to create and invite that much
deeper connection, that much more substantive response. Sometimes
it takes working through the conflict that comes naturally when I just
blurt things out without much contemplation, and that's OK with me; it's
all a part of my endless learning journey |
