Keeping the Sacred Flame

Honesty is important.  But how and why one is honest is also important.  One can use honesty as a weapon or as a way to make communication work better between people.  When honesty is a weapon, it’s being used incorrectly.

“I’m just being honest” “I’m a straight-shooter” “I’m just saying it like it is” – these are all words we use when honesty is our weapon.  They’re ways of saying “yes, these things are awful, but they’re true so you have to live with it”.  It’s using honesty to hurt people, and that’s a misuse of honesty.

Communication is powerful.  The same discussion can be loving or hurtful, depending on how it’s done.  The same truth can be used as a weapon or as a place of deepening conversation between people.

We have to ask ourselves sometimes, why are we telling someone this?  Is it because we care, or is it because we want to hurt someone?  Are we being truthful because it’s the right thing to do or because we cannot be blamed for it later?

Honesty is important.  When we are honest, we can deepen our understanding of ourselves and each other, and grow as people.  But when honesty is used as a weapon, it shrinks us and lessens the truth and the person delivering it.

Questions:
How do you use honesty?  Why?
How can honesty make you grow as a person?
How can honesty make you shrink?