Truth

Truth is on my mind.  Being content feels connected with truth. 

In the practice of yoga there are eight limbs.  The first is Yama, universal morality.  William J.D. Doran at expressionsofspirit.com/yoga/eight-limbs.htm explains the yamas are not a list of do’s and don’ts but rather five “wise characteristics” that tell us our fundamental nature is compassionate, generous, honest and peaceful.

  

Satya is the second wise characteristic in the yamas.  Satya means “to speak the truth.”  It is a commitment to truthfulness.  One of my favorite yoga instructors expounds upon this practice by reminding us that when we speak the truth we must do it always to ourselves first and with kindness.  She teaches that practicing satya we contemplate “Is it true? Is it hurtful? Is it necessary?” and to speak only after forethought.

Truth is defined at dictionary.com.

1.  the true or actual state of a  matter
2.  conformity with fact or reality
3.  a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like

I’d like to start telling the truth about simple questions.  Am I eating because I am hungry?    But what of eating because we are sad or need emotional food we are not being offered?  When I am tired do I allow myself to rest?  If I am not resting is it because I feel society or my family will judge me as lazy if I am not running ragged every minute of the day?  How do we tell the truth about what we actually need?  Can I let people close to me read my poetry which exposes deep parts of me that have hitherto been only my own?  How do we tell the truth about marriage, love, or parenthood when we mingle youthful expectations, societal paradigms, and the experience reality offers?  Do the people I love know that I love them?  Do we (as individuals, corporations and nations) tell the truth with ethical financial dealings?   

Sometimes it feels like I have to dig around, excavate to find the truth where it is buried.  I’m thinking about how awesome it would be if I could only tell myself things in conformity with reality without judging the facts or myself.  To give myself permission to say (with forethought and kindness) I am angry, feeling love, feeling regret, wishing to apologize, not interested  . . . whatever it might be and to accept the honesty from others.  The indisputable facts of truth are not changeable.  I am the one who wants to hear truth from myself and others.  But, I must also consider that not everyone is actually interested in hearing the truth.

How can a commitment to truth serve us?  Not as a tool for malice or harm, but a conduit for authentic living which leads to contentment and mindfulness and life.  I’m addressing these questions to myself.  The truth is today (as most days) I am mostly questions and not answers.