Three Ways Honesty Goes Hand in Hand with Spirituality

Honesty is a topic that I’ve been frequently hearing about lately. People are talking about how they couldn’t get sober or stay sober until they were willing to be honest. Even people who aren’t suffering from addiction have shared how they couldn’t manage their lives effectively when they were deceitful. It was too difficult to keep track of their own fantasized stories when they couldn’t remember what they said to whom.
Dishonesty is a form of delusion. The biggest delusion is thinking no one knows they’re being lied to. Even if the person doesn’t get caught, there’s an internal compass that everyone possesses that will signal the lie. That signal comes directly from our spirit and will not be deceived.

Honesty with Ourselves – No one is honest 100% of the time. Sometimes, we lie to ourselves like when we refuse to face facts and suppress the truth about ourselves or someone else. For example, we might blame the scale for being defective when there’s a weight gain. We may convince ourselves that someone with ill intentions is honorable because we don’t want to suffer a loss. We might justify our own deceit in the name of not wanting to hurt someone’s feelings. Yet protecting someone from the truth they want to know is more offensive because it assumes someone is too weak to handle reality.
When we’re honest, we don’t try to convince ourselves that coloring the truth is best for anyone. We know we’re not fooling anyone but ourselves, so we avoid creating that conflict altogether.

Honesty About Ourselves – Some people present themselves in ways that are misrepresentative. They might lie about their education or accomplishments, their appearance, or specific acts they’ve done or haven’t done.
Someone who lies about themselves wrongly thinks no one will find out the truth. Even if someone is blinded by your ability to lie, sooner or later the truth will come out. When that happens, all respect is lost.
When someone misrepresents themselves, they have created a scenario where they must always hide something. Then, down deep, they never know for sure if someone loves them for who they are – with all their attributes as well as their flaws. They have robbed themselves of unconditional love.

Honesty about Others – There’s a reason for the commandment that warns against bearing false witness about someone. Painting an innocent person as guilty causes long-term suffering for no good reason. There are enough challenges in life without creating trauma for someone who’s done nothing wrong.
There are various motives for lying about someone, but none are good. The most common reason is feeling threatened or hateful toward that person. But when someone bears false witness, they violate trust in the most reckless way to only make themselves look better. But when the truth does emerge, they will seem like the smallest person in the room.
You don’t have to walk on water to be spiritual. You were born holy and will always contain that part of your highest self. You don’t have to believe or even listen to your conscience, but it won’t subside. If you’re honest, you remain in sync with that holy part of yourself. But whenever deceiving someone, including yourself, the human and the spirit are misaligned. This causes internal discontent. We can run but we can’t hide.
Honesty is a way to remain at peace. With nothing to hide, there’s nothing to fear. Mostly, a clear conscience is the best prevention for self-sabotage – the inevitable result of self-deception. As best said by the great playwright, William Shakespeare, “This above all: to thine own self be true. And it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not be false to any man.”

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