TELLING THE TRUTH
As often happens, a comment left or read on one post, leads us to another… and another…and another. The web of relationships weaves itself more vastly and tightly as we explore, connect, and tie ourselves together. This week was no exception to that reality.
I wrote a post on Thursday. Renae commented and referred to another she’d left on a different site. I clicked on that hyperlink and left a comment myself. That blogger sent me an email. Now, its content makes its way back here to today’s post.
I am feeling connected, tied to others, grateful, and aware that when truth is spoken, by its very nature, it will be heard, echoed, made manifest.
That, in fact, is often what keeps us from doing so, from speaking the truth, isn’t it? Our deepest fear is often just this: that we will be heard, that patterns will be disrupted, that relationships will be stretched, that lies will be unmasked, that danger will lurk, that harm may come. But not speaking it; not living it? Our hearts cannot bear it for long.
Truth remains truth – spoken or silent. Eventually, it will come out. It will be heard. And when it does, there’s no going back.
Here are the words that made their way back to me:
I cannot unknow what I now know. I cannot unsee what I have seen. I cannot unfeel and unhear. I cannot become unconscious again in the places where I have peered through the dark into the light…”
I love this and, simultaneously, I feel its ache. Truth is painful in its beauty; tender in its strength. In my own places of truth-telling, it has not all been champagne and celebration. It has meant significant loss. Many tears. Unanswered questions. Unresolved conflict. Endings. And so many beginnings…
No, there’s no going back. No unknowing. No unseeing. No unfeeling. No unhearing. No unconscious(ness).
And I’m OK with that.
Truth stood on one side and Ease on the other; it has often been so.
Theodore ParkerCandor is a double-edged sword; it may heal or it may separate.
Wilhelm StekelThe truth was obscure, too plain and too pure. To live it you had to explode.
Bob DylanTruth is powerful and it prevails.
Sojourner Truth
—————
Monday: NEWSLETTER – A Weekly Hit of Faith, Feminism, and Telling the Truth (Subscribe)
Tuesday: FAITH
Thursday: FEMINISM
And more of all three, along with amazing women/amazing conversation in A Conversational Space. You’re cordially invited to join.
SUBSCRIBE to my Monthly Newsletter. SUBSCRIBE to the Blog via Email or your Kindle. LIKE me on Facebook.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
The Stekel quote really touches me.
.-= Alisha´s last blog ..A place to gather =-.
Cuts to the bone, doesn’t it? Thanks for being here, Alisha. Love that!
Glad to have been a link in the chain. I find the connectivity stunning. And the truth of all these words searing. Eventually it will come out – that thought changes things for me in some subtle way. Knowing that NOT speaking doesn’t avoid the pain or lessen the fear somehow makes it easier to speak. It isn’t a matter of IF – just a matter of how (hopefully with compassion as you alluded to in an earlier post) – and of now or later. The one thing I do know is that tapping into the strength to stand and speak is easier when I’m not alone.
.-= Renae C´s last blog ..Gathering the Threads =-.
Not if, but when. Not if, but how. Important internal shifts. And absolutely, Renae, not alone…
I have known the loss, the questions, the tears, the conflict… but the beginnings, not so much. That will entail an ending and I don’t do those so well. I am much more comfortable bearing the loss, the questions, the tears and the conflict… pathologically so.
I get this, Rebecca AND I think that the endings, while excruciating to allow do, in fact, invite beginnings whether we are aware of such in the moment, or not. As with most things, we look back and have the perspective needed to find the grace within. Grace within. And you? Strength within…
yes!
you cannot un-ring that bell.
Love this!!! Thanks, sas.
Ronna,
The title of this post resonated with me today.
When I first started ringing bells, the “you can’t unring” it bit made me nervous and panciked.
Now I can see “there is no going back” as a powerful tool. It motivates me to go forward. And somehow, the fact that I cannot go back, helps me to trust that God, the Universe, and my internal self has the strength I will need to forge ahead.
Onward Ho!
I love this, Rachelle. So often when we hear “no going back” we feel a sense of dread. The idea that it can be a form of powerful motivation and even “messaging” from the Divine, is SO much better. Redeemed. Yes, Onward Ho!
I’m just gonna wallow in this for awhile. Might even have to find a way to use it, link it, something over on my site. It fits “My Journey… ” so well.
Angie: Thought of you often as I typed it…Indeed, it’s your journey. All of ours, in some way – articulated or not.
This is a truth I have realized over and over but had never heard expressed so well, and had not really been able to say out loud myself. It’s like crossing the threshold into a room that has more light than the room you came from. From here, it looks like an unending series of rooms, one opening into the other into infinity. And while each time, you know you have crossed over into a new land–perhaps one that was “forbidden” to you by whatever powers were controlling–or trying to control–the knowledge inside you; perhaps even a land you were not expecting to find–it is a place of greater light, and you know you can’t walk backward into greater darkness. Whatever other consequence the truth brings with it, going back into the dark is unthinkable. Unbearable. Impossible.
Onward it is.
‘Love this, Lori. And I’ve been thinking a lot about light and darkness the past few days. Am grateful you’ve articulated this metaphor – both the beauty and power, as well as the consequences, the dark, the unbearable-ness (both our fears in going forward and the impossibility of going back). Onward it is. I’m with ya. Thanks for being here.
Hmm… Allowing endings and envisioning beginnings? “As with most things, we look back and have the perspective needed to find the grace within. Grace within. And you? Strength within…”
I like that. I think I am learning to paint less glorified pictures of Egypt and more pictures of stark, beautiful desert landscapes. I think I am learning to like sand…
.-= Rebecca´s last blog ..The truth and nothing but the truth… =-.
It’s good stuff: sand (and maybe some sun). SPF30 and we’re all good! Seriously…I’m grateful that desert landscapes are showing up with at least momentary flashes of beauty, Rebecca.
i have often felt this way… that being awake and more fully present is not without it’s hurdles.
however, given the choice between staying awake and learning to be more fully present and alive in my life, or going back to sleep, i’ll choose life every time.
beautifully written and just the reminder i needed this morning,
thanks
.-= leonie´s last blog ..postcards from northern ireland =-.
Absolutely the right choice – though hardly easy. There’s a line in a Sara Bareilles song, Fairytale, where Sleeping Beauty says, “I’d rather sleep my whole life away than have you keep me from dreaming.” Not quite the same slant, but the same meaning. We can’t not dream. We can’t not live. We must choose to be awake and alive. Love that you’re here, Leonie.
{ 1 trackback }