The Truth, The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth: Bedrock of Health and Stability

(Excerpted and revised from an article titled “Telling The Truth”by (Marcia) Anastasia Rosen-Jones, 1985)

Clichés about truth and its connection to the ills of the world such as “The truth will set you free” and “All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing” abound. Religious teachings, too, put forth doctrines, urging faith followers adherence to truth; social justice presumed to be intrinsically woven with goodness and honesty.

There is another side of the coin, however. This aspect has to do with the reality, as I have come to know it, that relatively few people are even capable of adhering to these principles that unite truth-telling, social justice, good clean living and life as we know it today, if for no other reason than there is just simply not enough time. 

Other aspects, setting this state of affairs in motion are that, generally speaking, few people have the needed skills, safe spaces or support structures to get to ‘truth” and/or clarity, even the whole truth and nothing but the real truth of their own personal experiences.

This is a mess of modern day life.  Enter Bill Cosby and Anthony Weiner!

If it was ever any better in the history of our human evolution I doubt. Thus real life circumstances are that most people create and live in varying degrees of clouded consciousness or a moderate fog their whole lives through.

My Notebooks Project and the increasing clarity it is bringing me now, each and every day, as I work with these binders are reminding me, with growing anguish, how much I miss the Discount Derby/Game/Truth or Dare Community that formed the center of my life for close to twenty-five years at New Horizons.

I am so personally malnourished and in need of safe loving spaces where people will do their utmost to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth that I think I will near burst sometimes.  So, honoring, my current adventure of rediscovery of who I am and what I stand for, I offer you the following words to get the conversation going on “Telling The Truth (the whole truth and nothing but the truth).”

I am determined, somehow or other, to bring into my present life the purity of my former life, before blindness when playing the Truth or Dare Game was a way of life and daily fare for me and a beautiful group of other dedicated folks.

I am hoping that if I speak my truth on the subject you might just be inclined to join me.

Edited and excerpted from “Telling The Truth,” 1985.

“Most of us think we are fairly honest. In fact, most of us like to believe that we are committed to personal integrity. But, if this is in fact true, what about the corners we cut, telling ourselves that we are being diplomatic, politically correct or in too much of a hurry to bother with small stuff.

For example, if and when someone questions our honesty, we are typically offended or defensive.

“Angry, me? Lying, oh no, not I!”

One truth I discovered in my many years of investigating the “Dark Side” in society and politics, commencing with the shock and devastation I experienced in the wake of Watergate, is that the majority of people in our contemporary society, mired as they are in survival driven living, are unwilling and frequently unable to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Realistically, the best any of us, driven to survive the stress of our modern day lives, can commit to is telling the best possible truth as we know it. Along with this we need to “honestly” acknowledge our very human limitations to even knowing what is full truth/clarity in any given situation, especially a situation of stress and tension - - and – being willing to learn from the perceptions and experiences of others what just might turn out to be a higher truth than the one we are promoting.

How about that for starters! 

Maybe you’ll like this way, if you aren’t already an adherent, enough to join me in New Horizons “New” Truth or Dare Game, when we start playing it again soon, I hope.