“The more they hate, the more good I do. The more they lie, the more truthful and authentic I become. That’s my way of fighting back.” — Me. I chose this way to protest and fight back
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I’ve decided to become a Truth Addict. It’s the least I can do in the mushrooming lies and distortions. It’s my way of feeling strong and helping people rather than hating them.
Like most people who try to be honest about themselves— the Dalai Lama, for one, Mother Teresa, and Thomas Jefferson, for example—I am not always truthful. I admit it. I sometimes exaggerate, hide unflattering things, embellish for style, and fail to tell the truth.
The spiritual path leads to self-awareness, which is often painful but necessary. I don’t need to lie or distort the truth. When someone like me finally looks at himself and faces his reality, nothing anyone can say about me can be worse than what I was of myself on my journey to authenticity. Someone who can’t admit to lying or distorting the truth is broken in spirit and soul.
If you are a human, the chance is you have light more than once, and rarely, if ever, admitted.
I was always taught that lying is a grave sin and a human failing, so I rarely consciously lie about big things. However, as my spiritual work has advanced and I have examined my behavior closely, I have realized that I sometimes lie to look good or to cover up some of my life’s many mistakes, even cruelties and moral failures.
In recent years, the truth has become increasingly important to me. I’ve faced up to my authenticity and learned, like Mark Train, that if I tell the truth, I don’t have to remember anything. Buddha says three things cannot be long hidden: the moon, the truth, and the truth.
Telling the truth is good for me. It builds trust, eases, and even eliminates my anxiety. It is the anchor of love and companionship. I bring respect and am well-meaning. It draws friends. It sells things. Learning to tell the truth has done so many things for me. It is so much healthier than rage and dishonesty.
My experience with the truth has been complex. For me, truth lives through three stages. First, it is often ridiculed. Then, and always, it intensely and violently opposes. Eventually, and in time, it becomes self-evident and widely accepted. Even if you are a minority of one, said Gandhi, the truth is the truth. We can learn from it, debate and twist it, but we can feel it in our hearts and souls. Lying makes the heart grow faster, raises blood pressure, and brings fear and self-loathing.
I’m with Socrates. The only true wisdom is knowing nothing, not thinking you know everything. For me, knowledge and learning lie in recognizing my limitations and seeking understanding and truth through listening and feeling.
In our time, lying has become a new kind of trusted and selfish morality. We are living in a shameless and morally less society, where lying is acceptable, profitable, and no longer widely condemned.
Socrates asked three questions when defining truth: Is it true, kind, or necessary? No leader in our country asks these questions anymore. As always, the people suffer. The rich get richer and screw the poor. It’s the oldest story.
So I’ve been inspired – another mediation gift – to make one of my new meaning choices to tell the truth, whether I look good or not, whether it’s big or small, whether it seems to matter. As I look at the news occasionally, I see the importance and value of truth. A government and society not bound by the truth is corrupt and disintegrating.
I won’t get on the hate-your-neighbor speed train. I want to be worth more than that. The more they hate, the more good I do. The more they lie, the more truthful and authentic I become. That’s my way of fighting back. If you wish, come and tell the truth with me.
Winston Churchill’s warning, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on, ” comes to mind in our social media sickness. He must have sensed the coming of social media.
I want to be addicted to the truth, a truth addict. I can’t do this for others; I’m not a truth policeman looking to condemn anyone else. I don’t wish to call out anyone’s likes unless they are about me.
I want to be truthful in what I write and say to Maria, on my blog, and in my now famous responses to people, in every photograph I take, and in every word I write about it.
This means I must be thoughtful, honest, and open about my words and actions. I don’t have any expectations, but we live in a firestorm of lives, delusions, and conspiracies.
Every moment of truth is like a mosquito bite. It spreads, gets me out of myself, and gives something to others. My new truths are doing good, publishing a sanctuary blog, and taking flower photos. It’s a good start.
