Truth is often asked for, demanded and almost always never truly welcomed. Growing up as a child in the midst of elders I have had the pleasure and privilege to traverse many cultures, religions, traditions, ethos and practices. I know from the living experience that we are not as different as we perceive ourselves to be. In fact, we are indeed more alike than we are different. What manifests as "different" is really just the myriad of diversification of doing things, the naming of things, the expressing of those same things and philosophies of lessons learnt wrapped in the explanations/explaining. Our experiences - socio-economical, spiritual, financial, the good, the not so great, the traumatic, bad, horrifying, aids in the coloring, and reshaping the way we see things and influences and impact our telling, retelling, of our stories, histories, traditions and cultural practices and nuances. So many things that appear different in practice if were to be systematically deconstructed to its core foundation, it is pretty much the same.
One of these standard sameness that runs through, I dare say, most cultures ethos, is the belief systems on truth, in the telling of it and in the of living it. Heck I'd bet most people can remember as children being taught the value of truth. Even the bible foretells, "Ye shall know truth and the truth shall make you free." --John 8:32 KJV.
"Ye shall know truth and the truth shall make you free," very true statement. Now while this is true, there are some truths within this truth, that is not told, that should be told. At least laid clear in preparation of what may come.
What is not often shared about truth is, what happens between the telling of the truth, and reaching eventual freedom that it promises to bring. The bridge from truth to freedom is not always smooth and can be a tumultuous journey to attaining "freeness". It is some of this realness of the consequential realities of speaking, walking, living in rawness truth telling untattered by excuses that is missing. Often we taught the abridged version, "Ye shall know truth and the truth shall make you free."
The abridged version is inadequate because it leaves you vulnerable. No-one warns of the possible backlash from telling the truth. No one tells you it can be traumatizing, that you can be abandoned, isolated, alienated by loved ones, friends, colleagues, for speaking the truth. That you may have to, for a little while walk alone, that you may have to be your own champion, your biggest believer, fighter, motivator and strongest advocate. All those possible realities are left out of the discussion about speaking truth. Thus most are not prepared to navigate its complexity should any of it be a reality. This is where our parents, guardians, mentors, loved ones fail us.
They fail us by not telling the whole truth about what it may mean to tell the truth, about what may come as a result of revealing the truth. About the possibilities of what may arise as a result of others hearing and receiving and not believing the truth. We are told enough about truth to inspire us to speak it and live it. However, we are not told enough to prepare ourselves, to help prevent ourselves from being knocked on our asses and blindsided, if the receiving is not with openness and grace but rather with doubtful disbelieving, defiance and aggression.
The truth about truth should be taught in its entirety, the good, the bad, the ugly. It cannot, must not be taught halfway. The knowledge of it should not be hidden and manipulated to dictate a particularly desired behavior/outcome because it leaves the learner unaware of its incompleteness open to be eviscerated. Not being sufficiently prepared leaves us at a deficit. It leaves us emotionally and psychologically unarmed and ill equipped to combat the disillusionment cumulating in a struggle to navigate the disenchantment fatigue in which we can lose ourselves.
D.S.B.S Rhapsodyphoenix
So true!
ReplyDeleteI think It is not worth the effort to force one's self to tell the truth to people who will dismiss whatever you tell them. Sometimes is even unsafe to advocate for the truth therefore truth must be treated with
care and prudence or one must choose to be silent. But if truth cannot be out in the open, it should be at least be known. Even if you decide not to speak the truth to others, we shouldn't never lie to ourselves as self-deception eventually will be a source of distress and unhappiness.
As a Persian poet said :
"Those who don't want to change,
Let them sleep"
Hmmmmmm, "Those who don't want to change, Let them sleep"--by Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī. Simple, profound, powerful. What's also true is, you don't always know you will not be believed, until you are not.
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