HONESTY

(Part 1)

By Robert A. Johnson

Honesty is such a complicated subject! Too little and one is a
colorless wimp: too much and one is leaving a trail of wreckage behind
him. So it comes down to a fine sensitivity for each occasion for what is
appropriate. I worry a lot about this and am never quite sure if I have
overdone or underdone an exchange with a friend.

I believe in as much honesty as one can bear. Honesty is close kin to
reality and has a divine quality about it. But it is a sharp knife to be
used with caution. I expect any reality is of that nature.

Two people prosper if the degree of honesty is correct between them.
But that implies that both will follow the necessary laws. The first
person must not bring more voltage to the exchange than the second can
bear. No one could take total honesty and survive this world. Our world
requires persona and courtesy, both of which impinge on honesty. The
second person must agree not to be wounded or carry guilt from the first
persons gift of honesty.

The cost of directness ( precious to me!) is some risk of hurt feelings.
One of the gifts you can give is not to be wounded by anything a friend
says or does. That gives the freedom to be as real and honest as we can
bear.

From, a broader point of view, honesty is a recent addition to the
human faculties. Primitive and simple people have little honesty in their
natures; they rely mostly on instinctive and archaic faculties. Small
children live from a 'dream' world where archaic facts override what we
call 'reality'. Or one might speak of two worlds of reality - an 'inner'
one, more akin to dream than 'outer' reality, an 'outer' one relying on
objective fact. But is outer reality more real than the inner one?

In the evolution of culture, we gain the ability to differentiate
outer reality from inner. We can observe whether something was a dream or
objective fact. But this is a recent faculty in the evolutionary scheme
and is a fragile one. Primitive or early people rely more on the inner
reality and their cultures allow for this fact. Julian Jaynes wrote a
fascinating book THE ORIGINS OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE BREAKDOWN OF THE
BICAMERAL MIND on this subject. His thesis is that it was only about three
thousand years ago that the BICAMERAL MIND ( the mythological mind) was
superceeded by the modern conscious mind. In India I had to learn that a
statement sprang more from a persons feelings at the moment than what we
would call objective fact. This is rich and living on the personal level -
for it tells the persons inner reality. But in the business or objective
world it is chaos.

Example: Amba Shankar once took me to his village, Halasangi, where
no white person had ever visited before and initiated me into 'old India'.
One day he took me to a great mango tree and kept me there all day. We
picnicked, meditated, told stories and had a happy Indian day. One of the
stories was that there was an old Yogi, hundreds of years old, who lived in
this vicinity. One day Amba's Father had been meditating under this great
mango tree, the old Yogi had come to take the Father on his three day
initiation journey, tested him, tortured him, frightened him, and then
given the Father his enlightenment.

I was thrilled with this story and had profound thoughts under the
great mango tree which had been ( mythologically speaking to my Western
mind) the scene of so sublime an event. Months later, back in
Pondicherry, a thousand miles away, I had an active imagination calling on
the great mango tree as scene; the old Yogi came for me ( in my
imagination, remember), took me on my initiation journey, tortured me,
tested, me, frighted me out of my wits, etc. and then gave me his
blessings. I found Amba Shankar next day and told him - careful to explain
this was in my room in Pondicherry and an imaginative journey - what had
happened. Amba was delighted and was in great excitement. " I knew the
old yogi would come for you! That is why I made you spend all day under
the great mango tree. I knew he would come for you!". "Amba", I relied,
"All this happened in my room in imagination right here in Pondicherry".
"No matter, he came for you and gave you your enlightenment". "Amba! you
don't understand, this was yesterday right here in Pondicherry!" I replied
"No matter, the old yogi came for you just as I had intended!". It was at
that moment that I understood, for the first time in depth, that India
functions on a 'reality' quite different from our own. It is absolutely
essential to know this of India and its teachings if one is to understand
their 'reality' and 'real' statements.

The inner reality is rich, instructive and absolutely essential for
the health of an individual. But it is chaos when it comes to the
'practical' world of business or outer reality.

So: is it possible to say that honesty (in our outer sense) is a
recent addition to evolution and must be carefully differentiated from the
age old 'inner' reality which old India still treasures?

I observe that modern societies all over the world are growing
exhausted with the strain of 'outer' reality and are losing their hold on
the disciplined faculty of honesty. As we lose respect for 'inner'
reality and try to base our whole lives on 'outer ' reality we lose energy
and increasingly lose our hold on 'outer' reality and what we call honesty.
In raising children, one should nurture the 'inner' reality - dreams,
fantasy, drawings, play - to make sure it remains strong.

'Outer' reality, honesty, objectivity, the cool scientific mentality that
is the jewel of our recent civilization, should be introduced only as the
'inner' reality is strong enough to sustain it. And even mature adults
must make certain that their 'inner' reality is sufficiently nourished to
bear the heavy weight of 'outer' reality. Honesty is a power only recently
added to the human faculties and is understandably fragile.

This work is not to be published, or sold without the Author's written permission.

Our thanks to Robert A. Johnson for sharing this previously unpublished work with us.

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