I’m here to tell the truth.
First of all, I’m here to tell the truth about my own life, about what I have done and experienced. What has happened has happened, and if we try to hide it by not speaking, we are denying our self expression. Speaking the truth of our experience is one of the first steps to real freedom.
I’m also here to tell the truth of my perception, of what I see and feel.Our sight and our feelings are never wrong, and using our voice in this way exercises our perception—and our intuition.
I’m also here to tell the truth with others. Speaking clearly and honestly may create the risk of being disliked, but it’s also the greatest service that we can do in connection with each other.
Finally, I’m here to tell the truth in the world. Our deepest purpose is simply to be ourselves as much as we possibly can. Only by cultivating the fullest expression of self can we realize the potential of our short lives.
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…and so are you. So much of our culture today seems structured around avoiding the truth—the truth about how we feel, about how we’re living, and about who we are. We avoid telling the truth about everything from how much money we earn to who we’re attracted to.
Jordan Peterson devotes an entire chapter in 12 Rules for Life to “Tell The Truth,” in which he writes “If you will not reveal yourself to others, you cannot reveal yourself to yourself… so much of what you could be will never be forced by necessity to come forward.” Like fear, the truth is a message waiting to be heard, and if we sense the truth, we must move towards it. If we do not, if we move away from truth, we are certain to see that “Any natural weakness or existential challenge, no matter how minor, can be magnified into a serious crisis with enough deceit in the individual, family or culture.”
I know from personal experience how possible it is to deceive myself; for years I told myself that I could get away with how I was living, even while I saw myself becoming more and more depressed. I knew that somehow I had to face the truth: that I had to change if I wanted my life to change, and that as lonely and hopeless as that prospect seemed, there was no choice. Eventually I would have to face the truth and begin to change, and only then did life start to get better.
