[1 minute read]
[No words here are Neil D’s. See source at end.]
Jesus said, “The truth will set you free,” (John 8:32) and I always feel compelled to add, “But first it will make you miserable.” There is no other way to describe the humiliation and grief that comes from seeing your own failures and weaknesses clearly, perhaps for the first time. Only in the presence of Great Love do any of us have the courage to attempt that kind of inventory…
…[Dad] began to cry. “Dad,” Tony said, “Why are you crying? There’s nothing wrong with me. It’s just my Earth suit that is having trouble. Nothing is wrong with me.”…
The truth sets us free. The first step?
We’ve been lying, distorting, denying, hiding from the truth. The first step is a truth-telling step. We admit who we are…
Where my “persona” is the me that is presented for the world to see, my “shadow” is the undiscovered or undisclosed me (often unseen even by me). Shadow is a concept much like “denial” in the recovery context. It’s not even necessarily that I see it and deny seeing it, it’s that my mechanisms for protecting myself from seeing certain aspects of myself are so effective that I’m blind to them.”
—From Richard Rohr and Ron H.
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Prequel: Who hurts more: Your partner or you? (HONESTY part 2 of 5)
Next: “The ‘egology’ of relationships (HONESTY part 4 of 5)”
Index of HONESTY, a 5-part series
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