“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
~ Dr. Seuss
Buddha taught, “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”
And today, we are exploring the 2nd Yama of Yogic Ethics, which is Satya or Truthfulness.
Being 100% truthful is likely the hardest challenge that life will ever present us.
I’m not talking about keeping a commitment to not telling blatant lies. Or even white lies. I’m talking about the little stories we tell ourselves. I’m talking about opening our eyes to our own preferences and prejudges, in order to see what is REALLY true in this world. And then honoring this place of truth as it grows within us.
Deborah Adele writes: “When we are real rather than nice, when we choose self-expression over self-indulgence, when we choose growth over the need to belong, and when we choose fluidity over rigidity, we begin to understand the deeper dynamics of truthfulness,and we begin to taste the freedom and goodness of this jewel.”
The following is an excerpt from Deborah Adele’s book The Yama’s and Niyamas: Exploring Yoga’s Ethical Practice, along with some very helpful questions for exploration regarding Satya or Truthfulness …
You can find her book available for free download here:
http://mandhataglobal.com/wp-content/custom/articles/Yamas-Niyamas.pdf
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When you go out into the world, do you put on a different “face” depending on who you’ll be with? Being REAL rather than NICE can be very difficult. Yet, NICE is an illusion, a cloak hiding lies. It is an imposed image of what one thinks they should be. Real comes from the center of our unique essence and speaks to the moment from that center. Real has a boldness to it, an essence, a spontaneity. Real asks us to live from a place where there is nothing to defend and nothing to manage. It is a contact with the moment that is not superimposed or prepackaged. Real is something we might not always like in another, but we come to know there will be no surprises. Real,though not always pleasant, is trustworthy.
How often do you “should” yourself, trying to keep up with and please “the Jone’s”. Are we willing to live out your life in your own unique form of self-expression ??? “Living the life that cries to be lived from the depth of our being frees up a lot of energy and vitality. The juices flow. Everyone around us benefits from the aliveness that we feel. On the other hand, suppressing that life, for whatever reason, takes a lot of our life energy just in the managing of the pretending.”
Can we be truthful enough with ourselves to step away from our group, to live our life with authenticity? Even if this means displeasing our family, or like Buddha, leaving his riches and palace behind ?? As human beings we have both a need to belong to groups and a need to expand and grow. As long as we stay within the approval of the group, we experience the innocence of belonging. However, when we begin to grow in directions beyond the group, we experience guilt in regards to the group. Truth of our freedom carries the price of guilt. Are you willing to bare that burden??
Truth rarely seems to ask the easier choice of us. In the moment to moment details of our daily living, truth asks us to pay attention and to act correctly the first time. How much time and energy do you waste by saying you’ll do something, only to have to go back on those words and commitments? Can you imagine speaking and acting so correctly that you never have to go back and apologize or make a new agreement???
Truth is fluid. It requires that we clean our lens, and periodically get new glasses with which to observe the world. Our seeing is limited by all the groups that shape us, as well as by our experience. The guideline of truthfulness asks us to update our beliefs and values and views in order to stay current with ourselves and our surroundings.
And here’s one of the biggest gems of this chapter on Satya for me:
In India, the fluidity of truth was understood in the practice of what was called the Ashramic Stages. Life was divided into four equal parts, or times in life, in which a certain aspect of living was honored and pursued …
- In the first period of life, it was time to grow up and, with the support of your parents, learn a skill in which you showed interest and ability.
- In the second period of life, it was time to use this skill for the good of the community and to receive money in return so you could live and raise a family.
- In the third period of life, it was time to leave worldly possessions and tasks in pursuit of inner wisdom.
- And in the last phase of life, it was time to return to the community, guiding and supporting the community with the inner wisdom that had been attained.
Where are you on this journey? Is it time to give up a life that is no longer serving you?? We can all use these stages to ask ourselves if we are engaged in the truthful pursuit that is right for this time of our lives and to assess if we have done something significant to mark these rites of passage. Ritual helps us to end and begin again, without carrying the dead weight of what we have left behind.
When we run from life, try to manage life, or leave our energy scattered here and there, we feel differently than when our whole self shows up with our thoughts, words, and actions congruent and unified. When we are centered in the moment, we can fully meet the ordinariness of life as well as the challenges of life. Dishes are met with the same contact as are arguments as are hugs. There is no need to tame ourselves or hide ourselves. There is a profound courage to this kind of willingness to be raw with reality as it is, rather than to run from it or construct a barrier to soften it.
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So to quote Kanye West: “Believe in your flyness, conquer your shyness.” For the love of God, get out there today, and be yourself, tamed only by your compassionate heart. At our core, we are all the same. But in this human incarnation, we are each a beautifully, unique flowering expression of his oneness. Own what is your god-given right: Be truthful enough to own Yourself. I’m working on it …..
If you enjoyed this post, you can find the beginning of this series,
Exploring the Yamas and Niyamas: The Yogic Code of Ethics, here:
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