Honesty seems to live just below the surface of consciousness. It is not deeply fastened to the lower brain functions, it is not unconscious. However, in the semi-conscious state where it exists, it needs to be seduced out deliberately if it is to be of any use.
I am curious about the statement that makes up the title of this mini-essay: ” No two moments are alike.” I remember being mystified for quite some time when I first learned that no two snow-flakes were a like. I am mystified in the same way about this recent thought that I have been having.
At this point in our collective development as humans, most of us can accept the “here & now” of current life. We are surrounded with mindful reminders of “live for today,” “only one day matters. today, because yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not here.” The here and now has been relegated to a cute little phrase that is comfortable and not offensive to anyone.
Add the concept of believing in a deep and loyal commitment to oneself, and most of us run as fast as we can, taking our un-resolved self with us. We do this from one moment to the next. And, some of us do it for a life time. Honesty as a form of communicating between aspects of yourself is a skill that must be learned. It is not a given that on our own we will find the route to nirvana or honesty.
Honesty is eclipsed by the ego through a myriad of defenses and coping skills that are neuronal connections. To work with the authentic self, we must risk the emotional discomfort of shame, ignorance, guilt, arrogance, grandiosity, imperfection, and most of all a gigantic ego that demands respect while advocating complete control of the human mind.
In exchange for protecting us, the ego demands 100% entitlement to righteousness. The ego has no use for intuition, the subjectivity, the dream-like images of what ever we can conjure up. Matters of the heart are like Ladies in the court of Henry VIII.
The concept of deliberate intent is again being called on. If we want to be honest with ourselves, we have to commit to a practice that is consistent and supportive. As well, we have to be prepared to chase away the demon nay-sayers. The one we hear outside of us and the eternal ones that come from ancestry.
Moving to honesty is a paradigm switch. Nothing that we thought we knew applies to our discovering our own neuro-pathways. Thinking is not particularly useful in getting there. There may be a constitutional resistance to even wanting to know the truth as you may feel a need to punish yourself according to pre-renaissance torture treatments. Perhaps the source of our modern day hell is the souls of men who have created human atrocities.
Hell is too frighteningly close to honesty. It heats up the fears to such an intensity that deliberate search for the still-point is unconsciously abandoned.
Writing with Light: iphotoimpression.com 