Vanessa, We live in a culture of dishonesty, in a time of lies. Some corporations have betrayed our trust and wounded our belief in fair business practices. Our government and corporations have been dishonest about climate change. Mothers and fathers worry about the honesty of their children and install computer programs and video monitors to track their recreational pursuits. And people continue to betray and divorce each other despite solemn marriage vows.
Dishonesty is an epidemic that we have become so accustomed to that we have accepted and integrated its distortions into our daily lives, poisoning our relationships and our jobs and damming the flow of our spiritual lives. We can neither shine a light nor stand in someone else’s light when we are in a perpetual state of hiding from others and ourselves.
We lie when we are afraid of what others will think. We lie to try to manage situations that are out of control, which inevitably spin further out of control. With each lie, the fear of being found out grows and more lies are required. We have to remember what we said and to whom we said it as we swirl into this destructive and exhausting pattern. When we try to hold back the truth, which naturally bubbles from the source, we divert the course of nature.