Truth vs. Saving Face
Apr 18th, 2007 by John
Over the course of 5+ decades, I have had to learn the hard way to stand with the Truth. I’m not 100%, but I’m making progress.
Some of the longest walks in my life were short in distance, but long in challenge and difficulty as I turned toward the Truth and walked away from saving face or self-image. I remember clearly one of the most difficult walks of this nature I made. I was in my late-twenties. That walk has supported me more than I can ever say in turning toward the Truth.
Our idealized self-image is just that an image and our dear friend, the superego, uses that very effectively to constantly harangue us, or more likely - beat the shit out of us.
When we get comfortable with losing face - letting go of the prized self-image, our hearts and minds can soar to new heights.
As tihs image reflects, when the self-image falls, the temple of wisdom is revealed.
What Truth Requires
Truth has a thousand countenances. Sometimes she’s a tough broad partial to black leather, a sleeping infant, two sparrow nipping at a black hawk’s wing in mid air, a pair of lenseless wireframes hanging nearly invisible on sagebrush but for a white blossom unexpectedly in the brushy gray, a fuzzy dog with poop on its butt sitting on your big toe, a dead moose splayed on the side of the road, an excavation hole so deep in your psyche there’s no place for all the dirt and rubble so it melts out your eyes. On occasion she might arouse your heart’s sweetness but she’s just as capable of leaving you bruised and taking you to your most desperate thoughts at the heart of which is a needle through your kidney leaving you crippled on your path. She can be a cruel bitch. Others will wonder why you would want to keep that kind of company, then they’ll wonder if they want to keep yours. So don’t expect companionship. And by the way, Truth doesn’t date. With Truth it’s not love at first sight—it’s marriage; a steadfast, committed, eternal flame.
–Halbert