Is Honesty Effective?

Note I didn’t ask if honesty is moral or the right thing to do. After all, there is no such thing as morality or what’s right. In this exploration, I’m exploring, is honesty effective? Is honesty effective at getting what I want while keeping away what I don’t want?

To answer this question, I must point out that everyone who believes that honesty is the right way to do something is missing the fact that the world’s most successful people lie to our faces constantly. If lying and stretching the truth is the order of the day, is honesty actually effective?

The honesty that I’m referring to is the one that comes about after careful examination of the problem or the question at hand. The first answer that comes to mind is never right. 

Finding the truth within our intentions and within our heart requires peeling back the layers. It asks us to examine our actions and our beliefs for what they truly are, without fear or expectation.

When you can feel the truth and be honest with yourself about what you want, you have the chance to transform yourself. 

When I became critically honest with myself, it became difficult for me to lie to anyone else. If I lie to you, it affects me more because I’m not allowing myself to see the situation for what it truly is.

When I understand the problem or the situation for what it truly is, when I can see beyond the lies and understand the strings that control the stage, I can naturally and easily move in the direction of gaining what I want. 

In this way, honesty acts as a light that first allows one to see within themselves, and then to see the outer world. In this way honesty becomes the most effective tool to accomplish ones goal.

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I wish to examine the concepts explored above in more detail.

In this space, morality, should, and feeling good are inconsequential . There is no such thing as morality. One does not need a moral code to not to steal from or kill from their fellow man.

Any should or ideals are just that. They are an imaginary template for how one should be. They are not real. When imagination and reality do not match, discomfort is a natural consequence. This is not good or bad. It is not effective. Its not the truth. The truth is the thing in front of you. The thing you can see for yourself. The thing you can measure and feel in your bones. Not an emotion but a Knowing. 

Is honesty effective? A better question is, is seeing the world exactly the way it truly is, effective? If you could see the world, exactly as it is, you would know the impetus of why the world does what it does. If you could do this, you would be able to see causation. You would know to act when it mattered to act, in the way that it was meant to act, in the manner that the desired outcome could be achieved. To reach this level of awareness can take a human an entire life, if that. Most will never experience this level of awareness. 

Being honest with yourself is not a one-time event. It is commitment to questioning every step, examining without judgment, and peeling back the layers of bullshit that we have been telling ourselves. The self-honesty I’m talking about is to admit the deepest darkest intentions. It’s to find the root cause of your entire existence and lay it out to be examined. Without this you will never truly know yourself. You can follow all the prescriptions and the shoulds and the ideals you want and blame yourself for when you fall short as much as you want, but this will never lead you to permanent clarity. You will never see the animal you truly are. If your life is spent fighting following the shoulds, any breeze that rocks your boat, will cause you to fall back to your baseline. You will return to your natural state, the animal you always were.

Honesty hinges on self-honesty. Once you can look into the deepest darkest portions of your life, without the mind and its distracting thoughts, you can see yourself for all your good and your bad. Awareness is the cure.

A natural result of this phenomenon is an aversion to lying. When total brutal complete self honesty is achieved, there is nothing to lie about. Dishonesty does not lead to any benefit. You may get a small transient dopamine spike or a reprieve from an inevitable outcome. These are temporary. 

Truth found with honesty is tangible. It is permanent. It can be leaned upon. It has the ability to transform you. It can inspire others. It can be a self-fulling prophecy. When you can be brutally honest with yourself, it is effortless to do it with others.