"Crumble"
Committing oneself to the truth is a voluntary gut punch. It is a breathlessness which leaves the body gasping and unable to inhale. For most, this pain - all pain - is deemed contemptible and is ultimately disregarded as a value to live by. They would rather bathe in their insecurities, in self-preservation, and in ego coddling. The fact is that many will claim a love for the truth only up until the point where it starts to hurt. Self-honesty is, at its core, an excruciating self-confrontation. When it gets hard, we see that lies and self-deceptions are so much easier to bear, they are the coward’s path of least resistance.
Living without a commitment to the truth is a cheapened form of being. It is an ever-growing, not-so-benign, cancer of white lies and pleasantry. It rots us from the inside out until we no longer have the strength to see the world as it is, and everything which does not fit our precious fabrication is twisted to fit an edifice of deluded perception. This is no foundation for strength. Self-deception leaves us ready only to buckle under the weight of adversity. Failure is the only outcome for those who listen to the seductive whisper of lies.
The nature of truth is that it does not submit, and it does not yield. It holds steadfast against all pressure. It is the core that enables a foundation for real living, but it is something which must be practiced in order to be maintained. The breathlessness of the gut punch must hit both inward and outward. We must strive for honest assessment equally with ourselves as well as the world around us. Only then can we see that truth is not a goal, but rather the final auditor of our choices. The pain of honest examination and expression is far superior to the comfort of self-deception.
Make no mistake. Our effort is a process, not a destination. We have eight vines in a four acre weed patch, but while we wait for the winter snows to melt. We are strengthening our core, lest a weak foundation makes us crumble.
Living without a commitment to the truth is a cheapened form of being. It is an ever-growing, not-so-benign, cancer of white lies and pleasantry. It rots us from the inside out until we no longer have the strength to see the world as it is, and everything which does not fit our precious fabrication is twisted to fit an edifice of deluded perception. This is no foundation for strength. Self-deception leaves us ready only to buckle under the weight of adversity. Failure is the only outcome for those who listen to the seductive whisper of lies.
The nature of truth is that it does not submit, and it does not yield. It holds steadfast against all pressure. It is the core that enables a foundation for real living, but it is something which must be practiced in order to be maintained. The breathlessness of the gut punch must hit both inward and outward. We must strive for honest assessment equally with ourselves as well as the world around us. Only then can we see that truth is not a goal, but rather the final auditor of our choices. The pain of honest examination and expression is far superior to the comfort of self-deception.
Make no mistake. Our effort is a process, not a destination. We have eight vines in a four acre weed patch, but while we wait for the winter snows to melt. We are strengthening our core, lest a weak foundation makes us crumble.