We talked late into the night. I could feel a growing awareness of conversations within conversations within conversations. It was as if I could visualize the threads and links between and among them. What had been hidden, was increasingly recognized for what it was and is. As I reflect on the details the day after, I sense a reawakened resolve within me.
As I put words to this resolve, the picture that emerges is a quiet peace within willing to call things out for what they are. A need for truth revealed when one is in the right place. A thirst for open truth. A longing for conversations based on honesty, trust, and respect.
As I listen to the confusing and misleading words use by politicians, reporters, and analysts, I wonder if we have lost the connection. Are we willing to recognize life as it is? Will we let the mirror reveal the truth? In today’s world, regardless of one view of a given situations, it is a relevant question that need to be addressed before we go further.
Life keeps replaying different experiences. The suggestions that emerge include the following.
It is energizing to hear truth. While truth can be inconvenient, difficult, and at times overwhelming, when one lets truth touch one’s self, opportunities emerge. They always include personal lessons that reveal new and improved ways of seeing, doing, and acting.
It is humbling to hear truth. Seeing one’s mistakes clearly levels the playing field. No individual is above the other. Each has failed to live up to their highest aspirations and values. When one strips the externals away, we find a we are mutually fragile, weak, and insecure. We also find a longing for community, a sense of belonging, and of being accepted and loved.
We, individually and collectively, grow as we share and hear truth. It can start with what we can see. As one looked and reflected, another’s observation opened a door to more; “Ships plow those waters, and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them.” (Psalm 104.26)
May the conversations continue.
