It’s a strange question – you say, of course I need it. Are you sure you fully understand what honesty is? What does it mean to be an honest person? Never take someone else’s and do not deceive – you will answer. And be wrong, or rather, there will be very little truth in your answer. Of course, you will immediately be indignant, but why?
Honesty is a character trait, it is a certain quality that is inherent in every person to one degree or another. The key here is to one degree or another. That is, if we reduce the concept of honesty to an everyday level, then honesty will really consist in not taking anything that does not belong to you. Therefore, the 100 rubles found on the road will still wait for the return of their owner. And what if at this moment you really need money, perhaps you yourself lost your wallet this morning, and you do not have money for the trip home. You may argue that in some cases it is not a sin to take someone else’s if it is really needed at the moment.
Okay, then let’s look at the other side of honesty – don’t cheat. What is cheating? This is when one person wants to get something from another, but the other does not want to do it. Then the first resorts to some kind of tricks or persuasion to force the “victim” to do what he needs. Let’s imagine a patient who is terribly afraid of injections. You know that medical care is vital for him, and every hour he gets worse and worse. How to be? Leave a person to die or go for a trick and somehow trick him into agreeing to vital procedures? Here again you can argue that in some cases you can go for a deception. Summing up, we can say that the concept of honesty in everyday life is a relative concept. Perhaps the problem is not with the concept as such, what about our perception of this concept? Maybe honesty is much deeper and deeper than a simple human life? Perhaps we shouldn’t label those properties and qualities in ourselves that we don’t understand?
Let’s take a look a little deeper than common problems. How often do you have an inner feeling that you are not doing or saying what you really want? Probably not once or twice. Some of you may experience this every day, or even several times a day. Why don’t we pay attention to this? We drown out this inner voice, we are simply afraid of it. This is where true honesty is born. You don’t want to work in this job, but you need money. You endure a year, two, three. Discontent only grows. Sometimes you might think that you would like to do something else. And now, in fascination, you watch as a florist from a nearby flower shop arranges an exquisite bouquet. You have a shiver on your skin from the contemplation of this picture. A strange thought flashed through your head – floristry. And then you get hot, what nonsense, I – a manager of the highest category will arrange bouquets, what nonsense. But throughout the day, you have a picture in front of your eyes – your hands professionally select flowers for the bouquet. You constantly drive away these thoughts, you lie to yourself that even if you wanted to do this, you first need to get an appropriate education, spend a lot of money on different master classes and courses, which, in the end, will not be understood by your relatives and friends.
The latter hurts especially strongly. And now, you are again sitting in your office, preparing another report to your boss, you are deadly tired and do not want anything so much as to forget about all this once and for all. We have looked at a typical case that shows that honesty is primarily aimed at ourselves. This is our guide, who shows where to go in order to eventually come to ourselves. We lie, we seek excuses, we are fixated on material values and the opinions of others. But why then nothing from the outside world brings joy, and where the dream once lived, there is emptiness? To be honest is not to lie to yourself, to strive for what our inner, not outer being calls us to do. So you could become an unsurpassed master-decorator for floristry and bring joy to others with your masterpieces. But unfortunately,
What about honesty towards others? Here you are – a middle-aged man, married, with three children. Everything, like everyone else – work, family, everyday life, only now the wife is too bitchy, very exhausting, especially recently. The fact that she is only interested in money, you understood a long time ago. Her megalomania is manifested in everything, even she gave birth to three children to show her importance and superiority over others. Here, they say, what I am, while others cannot. You live like strangers. When she needs emotions, she starts another scandal and, as a rule, publicly, to show what a scoundrel and scum you are. At first you resisted, but then you realized that it was useless. And suddenly it so happened that at one of the exhibitions you met her. The woman is educated, well-bred. In her conversation with you, she showed respect and even some kind of compassion. You have never experienced this. After several months of communication, you no longer doubt that you have met your woman. But what should be done? Your mother, attached to her grandchildren, will not bear such a blow. Your wife will never accept this, it is easier for you to die than asking her to let you go.
After much deliberation, you have never been able to be honest with your mother and wife. You are now retired. Your mother died 10 years ago. The children left. The wife became even worse over time, she turned into a grumpy old woman. In a dream, you often see the same dream, a large hall in an exhibition hall and a woman looking at the exhibits. Perhaps if you were honest with your mother and wife then, then things would be different now? Now you have your own business and you travel a lot with your current wife. you are happy and adore your children together. Your children from your first marriage also communicate with you and you have a very warm relationship. Thanks to you, they all received a good education and work in prestigious firms. Your ex-wife found a new victim, with which she poisons life with her scandals to this day.
To be honest means to be able to listen to yourself, to try first of all to understand yourself and not others. This is the ability to convey to yourself and to another person your true desires, without fear of internal and external reactions. I do not call for taking someone else’s, quitting your job or leaving your family with small children. I urge you not to make unnecessary sacrifices. Look deep inside yourself to find what you came for and what your true purpose in life is. Perhaps part of your life should really be devoted to being the manager or the head of a particular seven. But if you feel the signals that the time for change has come, do not think about the opinions of others, act on the basis of your inner understanding.
