Honesty
- olivierbranford
- Mar 24
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 1
We have a dearth, a paucity, a scarcity of honesty today. Irvine Welsh said, tellingly, that “You can't lie to your Soul.” Why would you? There is something miraculous about listening to someone who is being totally honest - it's so rare in our days of wearing masks and seeking external validation for the 'big man' that we pretend to be. Why act so big, when you are not so small? That's the ego talking - the grandiose, egomaniac, false construct with an inferiority complex.
The great Bard and spiritual Master, William Shakespeare, said that “No legacy is so rich as honesty… Honesty is the best policy. If I lose mine honour, I lose myself.” Why is being honest so important to our wellbeing and healing?
If we are to embark on the spiritual path and the Hero's Journey, honesty is absolutely critical as it is a transformation from self-centred (egocentric) fear to openness and vulnerability.
Frank Ocean wrote that “There's just some magic in Truth and honesty and openness.” We have already talked about Truth and the power of openness and vulnerability, so honesty is next in line.
Honesty means moving out of your survival needs. Roy T. Bennett wrote that “We have to be honest about what we want and take risks rather than lie to ourselves and make excuses to stay in our comfort zone.”
Mary Norton Gordon wrote that “Our inner journey is a transformative process. It involves becoming who we already are in essence and letting go of the phoney in favour of the authentic Self.*
Honesty fosters human connection. When people sense that we're being honest the connection is transformed. We change. They change. The world changes. Scott Hamilton wrote that “The high road is always respected. Honesty and integrity are always rewarded.” The Dalai Lama wrote that “All religions try to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, for contentment.” Virginia Woolf wrote that “If you do not tell the Truth about your Self you cannot tell it about other people.”
Karla McLaren wrote that “Leading with integrity and empathy requires vision and a connection to your deepest Self.”
As you start to awaken, you begin to want to test your thinking with the new God-consciousness within. Common sense would thus become uncommon sense. When facing challenges, remember, as James Altucher wrote, that “Honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into a failure.”
Today, deceit, lying, and wearing fake masks has become the norm. No-one really knows who anyone else is without honesty. No-one is who they say they are or want to portray. Every photo is edited. Social media seeks 'likes' not authenticity. Noel Coward said that “It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.” Inauthenticity is lying. The norm is now underhandedness and disingenuity.
When in doubt, sit quietly in the place of stillness, the seat of your Soul, as Michael Singer says, the spiritual Master says, who wrote ‘Living Untethered’, which is in my ‘Suggested Reading’ list, asking only for intuitive thoughts, direction, strength, and courage to meet your problems as your Higher Power would have you.
Never pray for your Self, unless your requests bear on your usefulness to others. In all honesty, prayers should be of gratitude, not supplication, for them to work. Then might you only expect to receive. But that would be in great measure. When those things are done you will enter upon a new relationship with your Higher Power; that you will have all the elements of a way of living which answers every single one of your problems. Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty, openness, vulnerability, and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, are essential requirements. This is simple, but not easy; A price must be paid. What is that price? It means the destruction of self-centredness. You must turn over and turn in all things to the Higher Power that presides over you. When you go back through your life and, nothing counted as much as thoroughness and honesty.
The first thing apparent was that this world and its people were often quite wrong. But were they? Were they not just spiritually dis-eased and they didn’t know it. To conclude that others were wrong was as far as most of us ever got. The usual outcome was that people continued to wrong us, and we stayed sore. Sometimes it was remorse and then we were sore at ourselves. But the more we fought and tried to have our own way - the way of the ego - the worse matters got. As in war, the victor only seemed to win. Our moments of triumph were short-lived. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask our Higher Power at once to remove them. Love and tolerance of others is our code.
Honesty is Truth and, as Jesus said in the Bible in John 8:32, “And ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.”
Transformation works like a crowbar, prying into your dishonesty and fear. If you don't like the things that you learn about your Self, then ask your Self, do you want to go back to where you came from? When your life is filled with honesty, every action, word, prayer, and calling is an investment in your spiritual freedom and fulfilment.
Honesty is not only the right thing to do, it leads to wisdom. Thomas Jefferson wrote that “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”
Patience, acceptance, honesty, humility, and true Faith in a power greater than yourself or the tools that you will use to live your precious life. Your life will be filled with miracles. Begin small. None of those miracles would ever have come to pass had you not found the door of spiritual transformation. If you want spiritual transformation, you need a higher programme But HOW do you do this? The H is for honesty, the O is for open mindedness, and the W is for willingness; These are the essentials of recovery. These are indispensable.
If you want to succeed, manifest, and be abundant in life then honesty is the keystone. Zig Ziglar wrote that “The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, Faith, love and loyalty.
Honesty is so vital that you don’t need anything more: Mary Browne once wrote that “The elegance of honesty needs no adornment.” Meredith Monk wrote that “That inner voice has both gentleness and clarity. So, to get to authenticity, you really keep going down to the bone, to the honesty, and the inevitability of something.” Even if your main focus is abundance, as Harvey S. Firestone wrote “I believe fundamental honesty is the keystone of business.”
Interpersonal relationships feed on credibility, honesty, and consistency.
Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed the spiritual path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple process, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. They are spiritually dis-eased.
If you are following a calling, be truly passionate about it. Franz Kafka wrote that “Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own Soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”
Namaste.
Olly
Email me:
My gift is to be your guide on your very own 'Hero's Journey'...
Hello,
I am delighted and enchanted to meet you. I coach men with 'Deep Coaching', 'Supercoaching', and Transformative Life Coaching (TLC). Thank you for reading this far. I very much look forward to connecting with the highest version of you, to seeing your highest possibility, and to our conversations. Please do contact me via my email for a free connection call and a free experience of coaching on Zoom or in person.
“Transformative life coaching uniquely creates and holds the space for you to see your self afresh, with clarity, and step into new ways of BEing, which will transform how you perceive and intuitively create your world. My work is to guide you to raise your own conscious awareness to the level that you want to achieve.”
I have a Bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences from Trinity College, Cambridge; a Master's Degree in Philosophy from Trinity College, Cambridge; a PhD Doctorate in Scientific Research from University College London (UCL); a Medical Degree (MD/MBBS) from The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London and have been a doctor and reconstructive trauma and cancer surgeon in London for 20 years. I have a number of other higher qualifications in science and surgery. I have published over 50 peer reviewed PubMed cited scientific journal articles, have been an associate editor and frequent scientific faculty member, and am the author of several scientific books. I have been awarded my Diploma in Transformative Life Coaching in London, which has International Coaching Federation (ICF) Accreditation, as well as the UK Association for Coaching (AC), and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). I have been on my own transformative journey full time for over five years and I am ready to be your guide to you finding out who you really are and how the world works.
I hear you. I see the highest in you, and I will continue to do so until you see it for your Self. I have ultimate compassion for you I will never judge you. We will fulfil your dreams and discover your purpose and what gives your life meaning. We are dealing with infinite possibility here. Together, we will lead you to remembering the light that resides in you. I have written 400 articles for you and an eBook to guide you on your transformative journey, which are all available for free on my website - click on the link below:
Please let me know if you would like to join our 'VOICE for men' VIP community: 'Vulnerability & Openness Is a Choice Ensemble', 'Visibility Is Power', where men can find their strength, courage, and authenticity, by dropping their egocentric fears and instead communicate openly with vulnerability. We are co-creating this space. It will change your life. It will empower you. This community is a safe space for men to connect and discuss philosophy, spirituality, positive psychology, awakening to Self-realisation, wisdom and timeless Truths, to share our experience, strength and hope, and to find solutions to our pain and fears. Our meeting is free to join. There is no script, just sharing.
コメント