Post by laughter on Nov 20, 2014 1:43:42 GMT -5
One cannot be conscious of what they're unconscious of. That's an obvious tautology, but it's one that's useful to point up the conundrum of self-honesty.
When attention is directed outward, fully and undivided on what is before us and that includes us, there is no lie if there is no internal narrative. Where there is undivided attention to what is, rather than thoughts about what is, there's no room for deception.
When attention is directed inward, in the absence of specific relative movement, there is observation of that ever jittery horizon where attention meets interest. If attention remains on attention, with no hooking on this interest or that, the initial inception of energized interest can be observed. Prior to that hook, there can be no lie.
In between these two is the motion of daily life. Interest and conditions, and prior conditioning are intimately intertwined. This can, of course, be undone. Specific interests can be examined. Thinking of a particular interest as a knotted mass of string, the trouble can be taken to untangle, to straighten out, to ask "Why do I have this interest? What is the basis of this idea? What are the flaws of the premises?"
If one is interested in self-honesty, it might be very useful to subject some interests to this process, like the ones that form the basis of a conceptual world view or a personal suffering story, but is it practical or even possible to subject every bit of conditioning to this process?
Is it even necessary?
The answer to that last question is specific to the individual, but what can be stated very generally is that it is self-reference that is the primary lie, the necessary precondition to self-deception.
When attention is undivided, there is no illusion of separation operative between what it is that we take ourselves to be and what we consider as other than ourselves.
In undivided attention, is the absence of the lie. The rest is just life playing itself out on the beautiful expanse of the canvas of our lives.