It is hard to believe that anything is truly transparent. A colleague from a role years ago used to remind me of a difficult insight, at least to accept. “When you travel to a new country, there will be lots of new smells. Whatever your initial thought of what makes up a smell, even when you cannot believe it could be true, it probably is.”
Transparent truth is hard to accept, much less value, even when it is visible down to the smallest detail. It is not that one cannot see if one is willing to see. The challenge is accepting the truth of something more than what you already concluded to be true.
It is easy to be hard on oneself, thinking that everyone else uses transparency in effortless wisdom. Experience reminds me of how universal the problem is across time and cultures. The influencing biases of my childhood still shape how I see and value what is happening around me. It is as if I am stuck in Peter’s old observation. “All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves – through the Holy Spirit – the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this!” (1 Peter 1.12)
In the quietness of a new day, three old whispers keep taking me to my lessons for today.
Accept every gift of transparency as an opportunity for learning and understanding. Use the natural skepticism and doubt which often arrives with transparency as the motivation to consider, reflect, and grow.
Being open to the possibility of seeing always comes with the challenge of recognizing the biases and prejudices which one holds within. Letting transparency be a trigger for end-to-end transparency creates windows with new insights.
Remember, as I keep reminding myself; sometimes what one initially sees, smells, and understands without thinking is exactly what it is. As hard as it is to believe, others are on side, help is at hand.
