SpiritualWiki - Echtheit

Wissende, die sich auf ihren Glauben und ihre eigene echte Erfahrung stützen, wirken einladend, denn innewohnendes Verdienst und die Kraft der Wahrheit sind anziehend. Sie erklären und berichten, ohne Absicht zu überreden oder zu überzeugen.

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Sich selbst treu sein

Ölporträt eines Rabbiners,~1640-1645
Niederländischer Maler Rembrandt van Rijn
(1606-1669) Ausstellungsort Getty Center

Rabbi Zussaya lag im Sterben.
Seine Schüler versammelten sich um sein Bett.
Rabbi Zussaya bekannte:

Ich habe Angst vor dem Sterben.

Wie ist das möglich?,

fragten die Schüler überrascht.

Du hast ein vorbildliches Leben geführt.
Du hast uns wie Moses aus der Wildnis geführt.
Du hast wie der weise Salomon gerichtet.

Sanft antwortete der Rabbi:

Wenn ich meinen Schöpfer treffe, wird Er mich nicht fragen,
ob ich wie Moses oder Salomon war.
Vielmehr wird er mich fragen: Warst du Zussaya?

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Zitate zum Thema Echtheit / Authenticity

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Zitate allgemein

Empfehlungen

Apell

Ihr müsst verstehen, dass es sehr schwer ist, ehrlich zu sich selbst zu sein. Die Menschen fürchten sich sehr davor, die Wahrheit zu sehen. ⚡ Georges I. Gurdjeff (1866-1949) griechisch-armenischer Esoteriker, Komponist, Choreograph, Komponist, Lehrer des "Vierten Wegs", Schriftsteller, Quelle unbekannt

Schlussfolgerung

Auge (Plakat)
Franz von Stuck (1863-1928) deutscher Maler

Denn wenn man nicht sagen kann, dass man nicht meint, was man sagt, weil man dann nicht wissen kann, dass andere nicht wissen können, was gemeint ist, wenn man sagt, dass man nicht meint, was man sagt, kann man auch nicht sagen, dass man meint, was man sagt, weil dies dann entweder eine überflüssige und verdächtige Verdopplung ist oder die Negation einer ohnehin inkommunikablen Negation. Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998) deutscher Soziologe, transdisziplinärer Sozialwissenschaftler, Gesellschaftstheoretiker, Begründer der soziologischen Systemtheorie, Autor, Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft, Kapitel "Zur Nicht-Kommunizierbarkeit von Aufrichtigkeit", S. 311, Suhrkamp, 1. Ausgabe 1997

Einsichten

Sich zu entschuldigen, ist nicht demütigend, sondern ein Zeichen von Reife und Aufrichtigkeit! Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993) US-amerikanischer Pastor, Förderer des Positiven Denkens, Autor, Quelle unbekannt

Vollkommene Aufrichtigkeit ist der Weg zur Originalität. Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) französischer Kunstkritiker, Übersetzer von Edgar Allan Poe, Lyriker, wichtiger Wegbereiter der literarischen Moderne in Europa, Dichter

Es gibt wenig aufrichtige Freunde. Die Nachfrage ist auch gering. Marie Freifrau von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) österreichische Aphoristikerin, Erzählerin, Novelistin, Schriftstellerin, Gesammelte Schriften. Erster Band. Aphorismen. Parabeln, Märchen und Gedichte, S. 76, Gebrüder Paetel Verlag, Berlin, 1893, Fünfhundert Aphorismen, 1911, Verlag Der Wissenschaften, 18. August 2017

Das Glück lacht dem Mutigen. Segnungen werden stets den Ehrlichen und Freundlichen zuteil. Gautama Buddha (563-483 v. Chr.) indischer Avatar, Lehrer der Erleuchtung, Zentralfigur des Buddhismus, Quelle unbekannt

Ihr müsst wissen: Buddhisten diskutieren nicht über die Überlegenheit und die Unterlegenheit der jeweiligen Lehren und unterscheiden nicht zwischen Oberflächlichkeiten und Tiefe im Dharma [Anm.: in der Lehre]. Es geht ihnen nur darum zu erkennen, ob die Praxis echt oder unecht ist. Dogen Zenji (1200-1253) japanischer spiritueller Lehrer des japanischen Zen-Buddhismus, Quelle unbekannt

Heiliger Pillendreher [Scarabaeus sacer],
Symbol für Auferstehung und den Kreislauf der Sonne
Aufgenommen am 19. September 2007

Der Charakter [eines Menschen] ist wie ein Baum, und der Ruf wie sein Schatten. Der Schatten ist, was wir von einer Sache denken, der Baum ist das Wirkliche. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) politisch ermordeter 16. US-amerikanischer Präsident (1861-1865), Lincoln's Own Stories, Harper & Brothers, 1912

Ein echtes Gespräch ist eins, in dem jeder der Partner den anderen, auch wo er im Gegensatz zu ihm steht, als diesen existierenden Anderen wahrnimmt, bejaht und bestätigt; nur so kann der Gegensatz zwar gewiss nicht aus der Welt geschafft, aber menschlich ausgetragen und der Überwindung zugeführt werden. Dankesrede von Martin Buber (1878-1965) österreichisch-jüdischer Religionsforscher und -philosoph, "Das echte Gespräch und die Möglichkeiten des Friedens" anlässlich der Überreichung des Friedenspreises des Deutschen Buchhandels, 1953, zitiert in: Martin Buber, Nachlese, S. 229, Heidelberg 1965

Die Lüge tötet die Liebe, während die Aufrichtigkeit sie erst recht tötet. Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) US-amerikanischer Journalist, Schriftsteller, Quelle unbekannt

In einer chaotischen Welt, […] in der sich die Menschen gleichzeitig in entgegengesetzte Richtungen bewegen, ist Echtheit das machtvollste Paradigma, das unsere Aufmerksamkeit gewinnen wird. Videopräsentation von Watts Wacker (1953-2017) US-amerikanischer Trendforscher, Watts Wacker: Internationally Acclaimed Mind Reading Comedian, YouTube Film, Minute 6:12, 6:24 Minuten Dauer, eingestellt 16. Oktober 2009

Sich selbst zu verändern, glaubwürdig zu werden, Menschen zu überzeugen und den verschiedenen Formen von Ausbeutung und Terror entgegenzuwirken, das mag in manchen Augenblicken schwer erscheinen; und dennoch gibt es keine Alternative. Rudi Dutschke (1940-1979) deutscher marxistischer Soziologe, politischer Aktivist, Wortführer der westdeutschen und West-Berliner Studentenbewegung der 1960er Jahre, Aphorismus

Entgegen einem weiterverbreiteten Missverständnis haben alle genannten Autoren aber ebenfalls deutlich gesehen, dass in diesen Situationen das Wahre, Echte, Authentische, Eigentliche sich nicht einfach so zeigt, wie der Kern einer Nuss, wenn man ihre Schalen entfernt. Der Mensch gleicht eher einer Zwiebel als einer Nuss, er hat eigentlich keinen Wesenskern. Löst man wie bei einer Zwiebel Schale um Schale der Äußerlichkeiten ab, gelangt man damit zwar zu einem Inneren, aber letztlich stoßen wir dort auf (oder besser: in) eine Leere. Friedrich Nietzsche und die Psychoanalyse, aber auch schon Meister Eckhart, Michel de Montaigne, Jean-Paul Sartre oder Hannah Arendt haben uns klargemacht, dass im Inneren des Menschen zwar die Wahrheit zu Hause ist – aber es ist vor allem diese Wahrheit: dass ein oder gar der Mensch kein feststehendes Wesen hat, dass er ein Noch-nicht-Bestimmtes, Unfertiges ist, dass sein Leben einer Bestimmung offensteht, solange er lebt, ja, dass sein Leben darin besteht, immer neu anfangen zu können, initiativ zu sein. Ein Urbild, ein Original, mit dem sich die personale Realität eines Menschen vergleichen lassen würde, gibt es nicht. Was ein Mensch ist, ist nicht vorherbestimmt, vielmehr wird er das gewesen sein, was er angesichts der Umstände seines Lebens aus sich machte. Dies macht deutlich, dass wir uns auf uns selbst als einem bestimmten Wesen nur im Modus eines Entwurfs beziehen können. Es ist dieser Entwurf von sich, der Entwurf seiner jeweiligen Seinsmöglichkeiten, an dem wir die Echtheit, Eigentlichkeit und Authentizität eines Menschen bemessen. Artikel der deutschen Journalreihe Der blaue Reiter, Hefttitel "Echt sein. Die Sehnsucht nach Authentizität", Artikel "Werde, der du bist. Echtheit, Authentizität, Eigentlichkeit", Andreas Luckner, der blaue reiter Verlag, Dr. Siegfried Reusch, S. 8, Heft 24, Erscheinungsdatum unbekannt

Echt sein heißt, aufrecht gehen, sichtbar werden in dem Grau, sich erinnern an Träume und Hoffnungen und nicht aufgeben im Kampf gegen die Mittelmäßigkeit. Echt werden ist wie eine Heimkehr zu uns selbst. Wieder da sein, wo wir begonnen haben, das Paradies noch einmal bewohnen, diesmal bewusst. Uns nicht mehr vertreiben lassen von der Seite Gottes, der in uns wohnt. Ulrich Schaffer (*1942) deutscher Fotograf, Schriftsteller, ...weil du echt sein willst!, Ernst Kaufmann, 1. Auflage 1990

Dort, wo die Aufrichtigkeit beginnt, selbstlos zu werden, erhält die Wahrheit ihr schönstes Gesicht. Elfriede Hablé (*1934) österreichische Musikerin, Aphoristikerin, Quelle unbekannt

Das einzig Echte an manchen Menschen ist ihre Falschheit. Werner Mitsch (1936-2009) deutscher Aphoristiker, Quelle unbekannt

Ehrlichkeit ist so gefährlich, dass sie einem das Herz brechen kann. Margaret Ellis Millar (1915-1994) kanadisch-US-amerikanische Autorin von Kriminalromanen, Quelle unbekannt

Aus Angst vor Liebesentzug sind wir in unserem Verhalten anderen gegenüber oft feig und bestechlich. Aufrichtig und gerade haben wir aber die besseren Freunde. H. Bauer, Quelle unbekannt

Referenzen: de.Wikiquote-Einträge ► Echtheit und ► Ehrlichkeit und ► Aufrichtigkeit

Literaturzitate

Wenn das, was du gefunden hast, echt ist, dann wird es nie vergehen und du kannst eines Tages zurückkehren. Wenn es jedoch ein Lichtmoment war, wie die Explosion eines Sterns, dann findest du beim Wiederkommen nichts mehr vor. Aber du hast eine Lichtexplosion erlebt und das allein hat sich bereits gelohnt. Paulo Coelho (*1947) brasilianischer esoterischer Erfolgsautor, Der Alchemist, Verlag Peter Erd, 1988, Diogenes Verlag, 2003

Gedichte

Dies über alles: Sei dir selber treu,
Und daraus folgt, so wie die Nacht dem Tage,
Du kannst nicht falsch sein gegen irgendwen.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) englischer Schauspieler, Bühnendichter, Dramatiker,
Lyriker, Figur Polonius in der Tragödie Hamlet. Prinz von Dänemark, 1. Aufzug, 3. Szene, ~1602

Ich will den Himmel nicht von dir
und die Sterne von dort schon gar nicht.
Sie gehören nicht dir. Und nicht mir.
Ich will keine Artigkeiten und schönen Worte,
wenn sie nicht echt sind.
Und sag mir, was soll ich mit deiner hübschen,
sorgfältig hergerichteten Fassade,
wenn sie doch nicht hält.
Ich will DICH, wie du wirklich bist.
UND DAS IST VIEL!
Kristiane Allert-Wybranietz (*1955) deutsche Schriftstellerin, Liebesgedicht

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Zitate zum Thema Wahrheit

Jesus sprach: Wer [die Wahrheit] sucht, soll nicht aufhören zu suchen, bis er findet;
und wenn er findet, wird er erschrocken sein;
und wenn er erschrocken ist, wird er verwundert sein,
und er wird König sein über das All.

Thomasevangelium, Logion 2, Teil der Apokryphen, 50-140, 350 n. Chr., 1945, Übersetzung Wieland Willker, 2002

Ihr werdet die Wahrheit erkennen, und die Wahrheit wird euch frei machen! Johannes 8, 32 (NT)

Ich bin der Weg, denn "ich bin" die Wahrheit und das Leben. Ich bin der Weg, die Wahrheit und das Leben. Keiner kommt zum Vater denn durch m-ich. Johannes 14, 6 (NT)

Gott ist Geist, und die ihn anbeten, die müssen ihn im Geist und in der Wahrheit anbeten. Johannes 4, 24 (NT)

Gegen Gottes Wahrheit können wir ohnehin nichts ausrichten, wir können nur für sie eintreten. Johannes, 2. Korinther 13, 8 (NT)

Denn das Wort Gottes [Wahrheit] ist lebendig und kräftig und schärfer als jedes zweischneidige Schwert, und dringt durch, bis es scheidet Seele und Geist, auch Mark und Bein, und ist ein Richter der Gedanken und Sinne des Herzens. Hebräer 4, 12 (NT)

Wer die Wahrheit kennt und doch nicht danach handelt, ist wie ein Mensch, der in den Spiegel sieht und sein Gesicht vergisst. Jakobus 1, 23 (NT)

Bin ich also euer Feind geworden, weil ich euch die Wahrheit sage? Brief an die Galater 4, 16 (NT)

Wenn ein Blinder und einer, der sieht, beide im Finsteren sind, sind sie nicht voneinander unterschieden. Wenn (aber) das Licht kommt, wird der, der sieht, das Licht sehen, und der Blinde wird im Finsteren bleiben. Phillippusevangelium, Vers 56, entstanden ~3. Jht., gefunden bei Nag Hammadi in Ägypten, Codex 2, 1945

Die Wahrheit kam nicht nackt in die Welt, sondern sie kam in Sinnbildern und Abbildern. Sie [sc. die Welt] wird sie [sc. die Wahrheit] nicht anders empfangen [können]. Phillippusevangelium, Vers 67, entstanden ~3. Jht., gefunden bei Nag Hammadi in Ägypten, Codex 2, 1945

Die Wahrheit sprießt aus der Erde hervor. Psalm 85, 12 (AT)

Persönliche Bekenntnisse

Ich bin der Wahrheit verpflichtet, wie ich sie jeden Tag erkenne, und nicht der Beständigkeit. Mohandas Karamchand Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) indischer hinduistischer Weiser, spiritueller Führer der indischen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, Menschenrechtsanwalt, gewaltloser Widerstandskämpfer zur Durchsetzung politischer Ziele, humanistischer Weiser, asketischer Morallehrer, Pazifist, Publizist, Quelle unbekannt

Wir haben die Wahrheit gesucht, wir haben sie nicht gefunden.
Morgen reden wir weiter.
Zugesprochen Sokrates (469-399 v. Chr.) altgriechischer vorchristlicher Philosoph

Ich glaube, dass unbewaffnete Wahrheit und bedingungslose Liebe das letzte Wort in der Wirklichkeit haben werden. Das ist der Grund, weshalb Recht, auch wenn es vorübergehend unterliegt, stärker ist als das triumphierende Böse. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) US-amerikanischer Baptistenpastor, Aktivist, afro-amerikanischer Bürgerrechtler, Rede zur Verleihung des Friedensnobelpreises, Oslo, Norwegen, 10. Dezember 1964

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Leidenschaftliches Wahrheitsstreben

Søren Kierkegaard weist darauf hin, dass sich die Wahrheit nur enthüllt, wenn man sie mit der Intensität der Verrücktheit angeht – keine Gefangenen! – und ich stehe in dieser Tradition.
Allerdings bedauere ich es, dass sich manche Leute von diesem leidenschaftlichen Ansatz und Stil verärgern lassen. Auf der emotionalen Ebene fühle ich mich überhaupt nicht wohl mit Konflikten – ich wünsche mir wirklich, dass sich alle mögen. Aber bedauerlicherweise schafft das Ringen um Wahrheit auch Feinde. Und vielleicht sind meine Ansichten völlig falsch, vielleicht richtig. So oder so, schafft das Gegner, und ich habe lernen müssen, damit klarzukommen. Interview mit ⚡ Ken Wilber (*1949) US-amerikanischer mystischer Philosoph, Vordenker des 3. Jahrtausends, transpersonaler Bewusstseinsforscher, Entwickler der Integralen Theorie, Autor, Bodhisattvas müssen zu Politikern werden, präsentiert von Transpersonale Perspektiven, Frank Visser (*1958) niederländischer Religionspsychologe, ehemaliger Theosoph, Internet-Werbungsstratege, Autor, Heft 5/98, Dezember 1998

Heilig ist zwar Laktanz, der die Kugelgestalt der Erde leugnete;
heilig Augustinus, der die Kugelgestalt zugab, aber die Antipoden leugnete;
heilig das Offizium unserer Tage, das die Kleinheit der Erde zugibt, aber ihre Bewegung leugnet.
Aber heiliger ist mir die Wahrheit.

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) deutscher Naturphilosoph, evangelischer Theologe, Mathematiker, Astronom, Astrologe, Autor, opus magnum Astronomia nova, 1609

Ich glaube, dass die Erkenntnis der Wahrheit nicht in erster Linie eine Sache der Intelligenz, sondern des Charakters ist. Dabei ist das Wichtigste, dass man den Mut hat, nein zu sagen und den Befehlen der Machthaber und der Öffentlichen Meinung den Gehorsam zu verweigern; dass man nicht länger schläft, sondern menschlich wird; dass man aufwacht, und das Gefühl der Hilflosigkeit und Sinnlosigkeit verliert. Erich Fromm (1900-1980) deutsch-US-amerikanischer Sozialpsychologe, Psychoanalytiker, humanistischer Philosoph, Autor, Rainer Funk, Herausgeber, Erich Fromm Gesamtausgabe in zwölf Bänden, "Humanistisches Credo", 20. Absatz, 1969, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt (DVA), 1. Dezember 1999

Empfehlungen

Übe dich in der Kunst, hässliche Wahrheiten in annehmbarer Weise zu sagen. Rev. Rosalyn L. Bruyere (*1946) US-amerikanische Energieheilerin, Aurasichtige, spirituelle Lehrerin, weiße Medizinfrau, Lebensweisheit

Sage die Wahrheit und immer wieder die Wahrheit. Wenn du die Wahrheit auf der tiefsten Ebene aussprichst, die dir zugänglich ist, findest du Hilfe überall. Wenn du der Wahrheit treu bleibst, siehst du, wo deine Persönlichkeit dem Mitteilen dieser Wahrheit im Weg steht. Dann hast du wieder den Moment der Wahl, deiner persönlichen Vorliebe oder dem Größeren zu folgen. Gangaji (*1942) US-amerikanische spirituelle Advaita-Lehrerin, Autorin, Quelle unbekannt

Vater Zeit rettet die Wahrheit vor Falschheit und Neid
Wallace Collection, London, England, 1737
François Lemoyne (1688-1737) französischer Maler

Sag Wahrheit ganz, doch sag sie schräg −
Erfolg liegt im Umkreisen
Zu strahlend tagt der Wahrheit Schock
Unserem Begreifen […]

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) US-amerikanische Dichterin, Gedicht, Datum unbekannt

Fürchtet nicht den Pfad der Wahrheit wegen der geringen Zahl von Menschen, die ihn begehen. Robert Francis Kennedy (1925-1968) US-amerikanischer Justizminister, Senator, jüngerer Bruder des ermordeten US-Präsidenten John F. Kennedy, Gangster drängen zur Macht [The Enemy Within], Scherz, München, 1964, Deutsche Buch-Gemeinschaft, Berlin, Taschenbuch, 1. Januar 1965, 3. Auflage 3. Oktober 1968

Leben Sie die Wahrheit Ihres Herzens. Es ist einfacher, die Wahrheit zu kennen, als sie zu spüren, und es ist einfacher, sie zu spüren, als sie zu leben. ⚡ David Deida (*1958) US-amerikanischer Sexualpsychologe, unabhängiger Forscher, Lehrer, Autor zu Mann/Frau-Beziehungsthemen, Nackt zur Wahrheit: Ein spiritueller Begleiter für Mutige durch Leben und Tod, Liebe und Sex, Kamphausen, 4. Auflage 16. Juli 2007

Schlussfolgerungen

Wahrheit wird niemals durch Gewalt widerlegt. Erich Fromm (1900-1980) deutsch-US-amerikanischer Sozialpsychologe, Psychoanalytiker, humanistischer Philosoph, Autor, Die Kraft der Liebe. Über Haben und Sein, Liebe und Gewalt, Leben und Tod, Diogenes, 3. Auflage 26. März 2014

Echtsein ist keine Gabe, die man entweder hat oder nicht hat. Echtsein ist beständiges Üben – eine bewusste Entscheidung, wie man leben will. Echtsein ist eine Anhäufung von Entscheidungen, die es täglich zu treffen gilt. Echtsein ist die Wahl, sich zu zeigen und realistisch zu sein, die Entscheidung, ehrlich zu sein, die Entscheidung, sein wahres Selbst sichtbar werden zu lassen. Dr. Brené Brown (*1965) US-amerikanische Professorin für Sozialarbeit, Scham-, Verletzlichkeit- und Empathie-Forscherin, Universität von Houston, Referentin, Autorin, The Gifts of Imperfection. Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are [Die Gaben des Unvollkommenseins. Lass die Vorstellung los, wie du angeblich sein sollst und umarme das, was du bist], S. 49, Hazelden, Erstausgabe 27. August 2010

Appelle

Wir müssen davon überzeugt sein, dass das Wahre die Natur hat, durchzudringen, wenn seine Zeit gekommen, und dass es nur erscheint, wenn diese gekommen, und deswegen nie zu früh erscheint, noch ein unreifes Publikum findet. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) deutscher Philosoph des Deutschen Idealismus, Schriftsteller, Phänomenologie des Geistes, 1807, S. 52, Ullstein Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1970

Ihr müsst verstehen, dass es sehr schwer ist, ehrlich zu sich selbst zu sein. Die Menschen fürchten sich sehr davor, die Wahrheit zu sehen. ⚡ Georges I. Gurdjeff (1866-1949) griechisch-armenischer Esoteriker, Komponist, Choreograph, Komponist, Lehrer des "Vierten Wegs", Schriftsteller, Quelle unbekannt

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Inschrift auf Bachmanns Grabstein, Friedhof Klagenfurt-Annabichl

Die Wahrheit [nämlich] ist dem Menschen zumutbar. Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973) österreichische Lyrikerin, Prosaschriftstellerin, Dankrede bei der Entgegennahme des "Hörspielpreises der Kriegsblinden", Bundeshaus in Bonn, 17. März 1959, Werke (Essays) Band 4, S. 277, Piper Verlag, München, 1978

Einsichten

Wer die Wahrheit sucht, der sucht Gott, ob es ihm klar ist oder nicht. Edith Stein (1891-1942) deutsche Philosophin, Nonne, Märtyrerin († KZ Auschwitz-Birkenau), Heilige der katholischen Kirche, Aphorismus

Wir kommen nicht umhin, an folgender Wahrheit, sowohl zu scheitern als sie auch zu würdigen: Das Leben ? ist kein zu lösendes Problem, sondern ein zu lebendes Rätsel. M. Scott Peck (1936-2005) US-amerikanischer Psychiater, Psychotherapeut, Schriftsteller, Lebensweisheit, Quelle unbekannt

Der Wunsch nach Wahrheit ist der höchste aller Wünsche. Dennoch ist es ein Wunsch. Alle Wünsche müssen eingestellt werden, damit sich das Wirkliche auftut. Der höchste Zustand ist, wenn alles Suchen aufhört. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981) indischer |Weiser, erleuchteter Heiliger der hinduistischen Advaita Vedanta-Tradition, Ich bin. Gespräche mit Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj Teil 1, J. Kamphausen Verlag, 4. Auflage 1998

Denn solange der Mensch dieser Wahrheit nicht gleicht, solange wird er diese Rede nicht verstehen. Denn es ist eine unverhüllte Wahrheit, die da gekommen ist aus dem Herzen Gottes unmittelbar. Meister Eckhart (Eckhart von Hochheim) (1260-1328) deutscher Mystiker, dominikanischer Theologe, Philosoph, Hardy Eidam, Ilka Thom, Ulrich Spannaus, Herausgeber, Wer ist Meister Eckhart? Homo doctus – homo sanctus, Predigt 52, Karlsruher Virtueller Katalog, Erfurt, 2003

Wahre Worte sind nicht nett [schön],
nette [schöne] Worte sind nicht wahr.
Laotse (604-531 v. Chr.) chinesischer Weiser, Philosoph, Begründer des Taoismus, Tao te King, Spruch 81, 800-200 v. Chr.

Gott ist unendliche Möglichkeit. Deshalb ist die Wahrheit dynamisch und der Irrtum ihrer Kinder immer gerechtfertigt. Sri Aurobindo [Aurobindo Ghose] (1872-1950) indisch-britischer hinduistischer Mystiker, Politiker, Philosoph, Yogi, Thoughts and Glimpses, Arya, Pondicherry, Indien, 1915-1917, 1971

Der Wein ist stark, der König ist stärker, die Weiber sind noch stärker, aber die Wahrheit ist am allerstärksten. Martin Luther (1483-1546) deutscher Professor der Theologie, protestantischer Reformator, Bibelübersetzer, Dr. Johannes Aurifaber [Vimariensis] (1519-1575) deutscher Mathematiker lutherischer Theologe, Reformator, Tischreden, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, Erstausgabe, 1566, 12. September 2016

Die Wahrheit war immer nur eine Tochter der Zeit. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) italienischer Universalgelehrter, Genie, Erfinder, Architekt, Anatom, Geologe, Botaniker, Ingenieur, Naturphilosoph, Bildhauer, Maler, Schriftsteller, Pariser Manuskripte, "Manuskript M", Folio 58, 1492

Groß ist die Wahrheit, größer aber, vom praktischen Gesichtspunkt, ist das Verschweigen der Wahrheit. ⚡ Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) britisch-US-amerikanischer Kulturkritiker, Humanist, Pazifist, Visionär, parapsychologisch-philosophischer Schriftsteller, Schöne neue Welt, "Vorwort", 1946

Besser, es gibt Skandale, als dass die Wahrheit zu kurz kommt. Gregor der Große [Gregorius, Papst Gregor I.]] (540-604) bedeutendes Oberhaupt der katholischen Kirche, jüngster der vier großen lateinischen Kirchenlehrer der Spätantike, Schriftsteller, Aphorismus

Eine Lüge ist bereits dreimal um die Erde gelaufen, bevor sich die Wahrheit die Schuhe anzieht. Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835-1910) US-amerikanischer Humorist, Freimaurer, Schriftsteller, Aphorismus

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Siehe auch:

Satz vom Widerspruch

Zwei Wahrheiten können einander nie widersprechen. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, cited in: Melissa Giovagnoli, Angels in the workplace. Dtories and inspirations for creating a new world of work, 1999

[Übertragen] Das Gegenteil einer trivialen Wahrheit ist einfach falsch.
Das Gegenteil einer großen Wahrheit ist auch wahr. Niels Bohr (1885-1962) dänischer Quantenphysiker, Nobelpreisträger für Physik, 1922, zitiert in: Hans Bohr, Stefan Rozental (1903-1994), Niels Bohr. His Life and Work as Seen by his Friends and Colleagues, Kapitel "Mein Vater", North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1967

Im Kopenhagener Institut, wo in jenen Jahren eine Reihe junger Physiker aus verschiedenen Ländern zu Diskussionen zusammenkamen, pflegten wir uns in unseren Nöten oft mit Scherzen zu trösten, unter denen das alte Sprichwort von den zweierlei Wahrheiten beliebt war. Zu der einen Art Wahrheit gehören so einfache und klare Feststellungen, dass die Behauptung des Gegenteils offensichtlich nicht verteidigt werden könnte. Die andere Art, die sogenannten "tiefen Wahrheiten", sind dagegen Behauptungen, deren Gegenteil auch tiefe Wahrheit enthält. Aage Bohr, S. Hellmann, Herausgeber, F. Vieweg, Übersetzer, Atomphysik und menschliche Erkenntnis I. Aufsätze und Vorträge aus den Jahren 1933-1955, S. 66, 1964

Wir leben in einer Kultur, die völlig zerfiele, wenn die Wahrheit gesagt würde. Ronald D. Laing (1927-1989) britisch-schottischer Psychiater, Aphorismus

Eine schmerzliche Wahrheit ist besser als eine Lüge. Zugeschrieben Thomas Mann (1875-1955) deutscher Schriftsteller, Quelle unbekannt

Wer die Wahrheit sagt, wird früher oder später dabei erwischt. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) irischer Dramatiker, Dichter, Romanschriftsteller, Aphorismus

Die Wahrheit erkennen wir immer erst dann, wenn wir mit ihr absolut nichts mehr anzufangen vermögen. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) irischer Dramatiker, Dichter, Romanschriftsteller, Aphorismus

Eine Wahrheit hört auf, wahr zu sein, wenn mehr als einer an sie glaubt. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) irischer Dramatiker, Dichter, Romanschriftsteller, Aphorismus

Wie durch Erklärung sanft man an den Blitz gewöhnt das Kind, so auch die Wahrheit mählich dämmen muss, sonst wären alle blind. Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) US-amerikanische Dichterin, Aphorismus

Es gibt die Wirklichkeit, und an der ist nicht zu rütteln.
Wahrheit aber, nämlich in Worten ausgedrückte Meinungen über das Wirkliche, gibt es unzählige, und jede ist ebenso richtig wie sie falsch ist. Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) deutsch-schweizerischer Dichter, Schriftsteller, Aphorismus

Eine Wahrheit kann erst wirken, wenn der Empfänger für sie reif ist. Nicht an den Wahrheiten liegt es daher, wenn die Menschen noch so voller Unweisheit sind. Christian Morgenstern (1871-1914) deutscher Übersetzer, Dichter, Schriftsteller, Lebensweisheit, 1910, "Stufen", S. 162, 1922

Die zur Wahrheit wandern, wandern allein. Christian Morgenstern (1871-1914) deutscher Übersetzer, Dichter, Schriftsteller, Die zur Wahrheit wandern, zitiert in: Wir fanden einen Pfad. Neue Gedichte von Christian Morgenstern, S. 18, Piper Verlag, München, 1914

Wir müssen manchmal in den Abgrund des Elends stürzen, um die Wahrheit zu begreifen – so wie wir uns auf den Grund des Brunnens hinablassen müssen, um die Sterne zu sehen. Vaclav Havel (1936-2011) tschechischer Schriftsteller, Mitglied des Club of Rome, erster postkommunistischer Präsident der Tschechoslowakei während der Samtenen Revolution (1989-1992), Präsident der Tschechischen Republik (1993-2003), Lebensweisheit

Je weiter sich eine Gesellschaft von der Wahrheit entfernt, desto mehr wird sie jene hassen, die sie aussprechen. George Orwell [Eric Arthur Blair] (1903-1950) britischer Journalist, Essayist, Schriftsteller, Quelle unbekannt

In einer Zeit der allgegenwärtigen Täuschung ist es ein revolutionärer Akt, die Wahrheit zu sagen. George Orwell [Eric Arthur Blair] (1903-1950) britischer Journalist, Essayist, Schriftsteller, Quelle unbekannt

Die Wahrheit ist immer in der Minderheit. Und die Minderheit ist immer stärker als die Mehrheit, weil sich im Allgemeinen jene in der Minderheit befinden, die wirklich eine Haltung einnehmen, wohingegen die Stärke einer Mehrheit Täuschung ist. Sie bildet sich aus Gruppierungen, die keine Meinung vertreten – und deshalb, sobald es offenbar wird, dass die Minderheit stärker ist, augenblicklich deren Auffassung übernehmen [...]. Währenddessen gesellt sich die Wahrheit wiederum zu einer neuen Minderheit. Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) dänischer existentialistischer Philosoph, Theologe, Schriftsteller, Theodor Haecker, Übersetzer, Die Tagebücher (1834–1855) in zwei Bänden, 1850, S. 203, Brenner-Verlag 1923

Man hat für die Wahrheit alle möglichen Definitionen gegeben, die die Frage nur noch mehr verkompliziert haben. In Wirklichkeit ist es unmöglich zu sagen, was sie ist, denn sie existiert nicht als solche. Nur die Liebe und die Weisheit ? existieren und es ist die Vereinigung der Liebe mit der Weisheit, welche die Wahrheit zum Vorschein bringt. Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov (1900-1986) bulgarischer spiritueller Meister, Philosoph, Pädagoge, Alchemist, Mystiker, Magus, Astrologe, Quelle unbekannt

Mund der Wahrheit, Rom, 2004

Alle Wahrheit durchläuft drei Stufen.
1. Zuerst wird sie lächerlich gemacht oder verzerrt.
2. Dann wird sie bekämpft.
3. Und schließlich wird sie als selbstverständlich angenommen.

Zugeschrieben Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) deutscher Philosoph, Hochschullehrer, SchriftstellerQuelle unbekannt

Jede neue Wahrheit muss im Allgemeinen als Ketzerei beginnen. ⚡ Thomas Henry Huxley ['Darwins Bulldogge'] (1825-1895) britischer Biologe, Bildungsorganisator, Hauptvertreter des Agnostizismus, Unterstützer des Empirismus David Humes und der Evolutionstheorie Charles Darwins, Quelle unbekannt

Der große Feind der Wahrheit ist oftmals nicht die vorsätzliche, ausgeheckte und unredliche Lüge, sondern der hartnäckige, überzeugende und wirklichkeitsblinde Mythos. Zu oft halten wir an den Klischees unserer Vorfahren fest. Wir unterwerfen alle Fakten einer Palette von vorgefertigten Auslegungen. Wir genießen die Bequemlichkeit, uns der Meinungen zu bedienen, ohne die Unannehmlichkeit, nachdenken zu müssen. Rede von John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) politisch ermordeter 35. US-Präsident (1917-1963), Yale Universität, New Haven, 11. Juni 1962

Wahrheit, die zu weit du verfolgen willst und jagen,
ist, eh' du dich's versiehst, in Irrtum umgeschlagen.
Friedrich Rückert [Freimund Raimar] (1788-1866) deutscher Übersetzer arabischer, hebräischer, indischer und chinesischer Dichtung, Lyriker, Die Weisheit des Brahmanen. Gesammelte Gedichte, Band II, Erlangen, 1836

Das sind die Weisen, die durch Irrtum zur Wahrheit reisen.
Die bei dem Irrtum verharren, das sind Narren.
Friedrich Rückert [Freimund Raimar] (1788-1866) deutscher Übersetzer arabischer, hebräischer, indischer und chinesischer Dichtung, Lyriker, Rückert, Gedichte. Pantheon, Fünftes Bruchstück. "Zahme Xenien. Vierzeilen", Erstdruck 1843, S. 408, Gesammelte Gedichte, Band II, Erlangen, 1836

Die Wahrheit ist grausam, aber man kann sie lieben, und sie macht denjenigen frei, der sie liebt. George Santayana (1863-1952) spanischstämmiger US-amerikanischer Philosoph, Literaturkritiker, Dichter, Romanschriftsteller, Aphorismus

Wahrheit ist das Kind der Zeit, nicht der Autorität. Bertholt Brecht (1898-1956) deutscher Theaterdirektor, Lyriker, Dramatiker, einflussreicher Bühnenschriftsteller, Leben des Galilei, 1939, edition suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main, 1963

Wer die Wahrheit nicht kennt, der ist bloß ein Dummkopf.
Wer die Wahrheit kennt und sie eine Lüge nennt, der ist ein Verbrecher.
Bertholt Brecht (1898-1956) deutscher Theaterdirektor, Lyriker, Dramatiker, einflussreicher Bühnenschriftsteller, episches Theaterstück Leben des Galilei, S. 71, 1948

Die beste und sicherste Tarnung ist immer noch die blanke und nackte Wahrheit. Die glaubt niemand! Max Frisch (1911-1991) Schweizer Architekt, Schriftsteller, Theaterstück Biedermann und die Brandstifter, Uraufführung im Schauspielhaus Zürich, 29. März 1958

Die Wahrheit, die du aussprichst, hat weder Vergangenheit noch Zukunft. Sie ist, und das ist alles, was sie zu sein braucht. Richard Bach (*1936) US-amerikanischer Schriftsteller, Illusionen. Die Abenteuer eines Messias wider Willen, Kapitel Lehrbuch für den Messias. Hinweise für die fortgeschrittene Seele, Ullstein Taschenbuch, 1. Juni 1989

Wer seine Meinung nie zurückzieht, liebt sich selbst mehr als die Wahrheit. Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) französischer Moralist, Aphorismus

Die Verwechslung von Wahrheit und Gewissheit ist nicht bloß ein philosophisches Problem von begrenzter praktischer Bedeutung, sondern eine äußerst reale Gefahr. Winfried Berner (*1953) deutscher Diplom-Psychologe, Sprecherzieher, 2002

Ungläubigen die Wahrheit predigen, heißt Blinden schöne Dirnen weisen. Andreas Gryphius (1616-1664) deutscher Dichter, Sonettdichter, Dramatiker des Barock, Quelle unbekannt

Man beleidigt öfter mit Wahrheiten als mit Lügen. Charles Tschopp (1899-1982) Schweizer Schriftsteller, Aphorismus

Wenn es nur eine einzige Wahrheit gäbe, könnte man nicht hundert Bilder über dasselbe Thema malen. ⚡ Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) spanischer Maler, Grafiker, Bildhauer, Quelle unbekannt

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Organisationen behindern die Wahrheit.

Die Wahrheit ist grenzenlos, sie kann nicht konditioniert, sie kann nicht auf vorgegebenen Wegen erreicht und daher auch nicht organisiert werden. Deshalb sollten keine Organisationen gegründet werden, die die Menschen auf einen bestimmten Pfad führen oder nötigen. Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986) indischer spiritueller Lehrer, Theosoph, ausgerufen von der Theosophischen Gesellschaft als Maytreya, Philosoph, Autor, Rede vor 3000 Mitgliedern anlässlich der Auflösung der für Krishnamurti gegründeten Organisation "Order of the Star in the East", deren Vorsitzender er war, 3. August 1929 zitiert in: Kocku von Stuckrad, Was ist Esoterik?, S. 214-215, C.H. Beck, München, 2004

Zweier Zeugen Mund tut Wahrheit kund. Redensart in der Rechtswissenschaft

Die Wahrheit ist ein selten Kraut;
noch seltner, wer es gut verdaut. Deutsches Sprichwort

Bevor du den Pfeil der Wahrheit abschießt, tauche die Spitze in Honig. Arabisches Sprichwort

Kindermund tut Wahrheit kund. Volksweisheit

Nach dem Wein folgt die wahre Rede. Weisheit aus China

Bist du betrunken, sagst du die Wahrheit. Weisheit aus Persien

Referenz: de.Wikiquote-Eintrag ► Wahrheit

Literaturzitate

Man muss das Wahre immer wiederholen, weil auch der Irrtum um uns herum immer wieder gepredigt wird, und zwar nicht von einzelnen, sondern von der Masse. In Zeitungen und Enzyklopädien, auf Schulen und Universitäten, überall ist der Irrtum oben auf, und es ist ihm wohl und behaglich, im Gefühl der Majorität, die auf seiner Seite ist. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) deutscher Universalgelehrter, Bühnendichter, Schriftsteller, zitiert in: Johann Peter Eckermann (1792-1854) deutscher Dichter, Gespräche mit Goethe, 16. Dezember 1828

Einer neuen Wahrheit ist nichts schädlicher als ein alter Irrtum. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) deutscher Universalgelehrter, Bühnendichter, Schriftsteller, Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre, Aus Makariens Archiv, 1821

Wer darf das Kind beim rechten Namen nennen?
Die Wenigen, die was davon erkannt,
Die töricht genug ihr volles Herz nicht wahrten,
Dem Pöbel ihr Gefühl, ihr Schauen offenbarten,
Hat man von je gekreuzigt und verbrannt.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) deutscher Universalgelehrter, Bühnendichter, Schriftsteller, Faust. Eine Tragödie, erster Teil, V., S. 589-590, J.G. Cotta'sche Buchhandlung, Tübingen, 1808

Das Wahre ist das Ganze. Es schließt den Ernst, den Schmerz, die Geduld und Arbeit des Negativen ein. Das Wahre ist die Einheit, insofern diese Einheit Prozess ist, d.h. insofern sich die Einheit in Verschiedenheit und Unterschied bis zum Widerspruch entfaltet hat. Das Wahre ist das Ganze: der Widerspruch. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) deutscher Philosoph des Deutschen Idealismus, Schriftsteller, Hauptwerk Phänomenologie des Geistes, 1807, Vorrede "DasWahre", Ullstein Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1970

Einer hat immer Unrecht, aber mit zweien beginnt die Wahrheit.
Einer kann sich nicht beweisen, aber zweie kann man bereits nicht widerlegen.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) deutscher klassischer Gelehrter, Philologe, Kulturkritiker, Philosoph des Nihilismus, Schriftsteller, Werke in drei Bänden, Band II, Die fröhliche Wissenschaft, Ernst Schmeitzner, Chemnitz, 1882, Carl Hanser Verlag, München, 1954/1956, Insel Verlag, 18. April 2000

Der Wahrheit dienen wenige in Wahrheit, weil nur wenige den reinen Willen haben gerecht zu sein und selbst von diesen wieder die wenigsten die Kraft, gerecht sein zu können. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) deutscher klassischer Gelehrter, Philologe, Kulturkritiker, Philosoph des Nihilismus, Schriftsteller, Werke in drei Bänden, Band 1, Unzeitgemäße Betrachtungen, Zweites Stück, Kapitel 6, S. 137, Erstdruck der Sammlung, E. W. Fritzsch, Leipzig, 1893, Carl Hanser Verlag, München, 1954/1956, Insel Verlag, 18. April 2000

Von jeder Wahrheit ist das Gegenteil ebenso wahr! Nämlich so: eine Wahrheit lässt sich immer nur aussprechen und in Worte hüllen, wenn sie einseitig ist. Einseitig ist alles, was mit Gedanken gedacht und mit Worten gesagt werden kann, alles einseitig, alles halb, alles entbehrt der Ganzheit, des Runden, der Einheit. [...] Die Welt selbst aber, das Seiende um uns her und in uns innen, ist nie einseitig. Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) deutsch-schweizerischer Dichter, Schriftsteller, Nobelpreisträger in Literatur, 1946, Siddharta. Eine indische Dichtung, Fischer, Berlin, 1922, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1969, 1974, 1998

Wenn es je ein Mensch wagen würde, alles, was er auf dem Herzen hat auszusprechen, sein wirkliches Erlebnis, alles, was wirklich seine Wahrheit ist, niederschreiben, dann, glaube ich, ginge die Welt in Trümmer, würde in Stücke zersprengt, und kein Gott, kein Zufall, kein Wille, könnte je wieder die Stücke, die Atome, die unzerstörbaren Elemente zusammensetzen, auf denen die Welt stand. Henry Miller (1891-1980) US-amerikanischer Maler, Schriftsteller, Roman Wendekreis des Krebses [Tropic of Cancer] [1934] Rowohlt Taschenbuch, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1953

Wir suchen die Wahrheit, finden wollen wir sie aber nur dort, wo es uns beliebt. Marie Freifrau von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) österreichische Aphoristikerin, Erzählerin, Novelistin, Schriftstellerin, Gesammelte Schriften. Erster Band. Aphorismen. Parabeln, Märchen und Gedichte, Gebrüder Paetel Verlag, Berlin, 1893, Fünfhundert Aphorismen, 1911, Verlag Der Wissenschaften, 18. August 2017

Opernlyrik

Papagenos Frage: "Mein Kind, was werden wir nun sprechen?"
Paminas Antwort: "Die Wahrheit, die Wahrheit, sei sie auch ein Verbrechen!" Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) österreichischer Komponist zur Zeit der Wiener Klassik, Oper in zwei Aufzügen Zauberflöte, Wien, 30. September 1791

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Zitate zum Thema Täuschen und Lügen

Referenz: de.Wikiquote-Eintrag ► Lüge

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General quotes

Jesus: Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. Matthew 10, 34-39 (NT)

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Human law ⇔ natural law

Apostle Paul: Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them. Romans 2, 14-15 (NT) New International Version (NIV)

Personal avowals

I am interested in recognizing that fine line between relational passion and avoidant intensities.
There were moments when my passionate nature was a direct reflection of my aliveness, but there were so many moments when I was just using intensity and drama as a coping strategy, a way to actually hide from a deeper experience of the moment, some kind of addictive anti-mellow drama that procrastinated my relationship with reality. Somewhere below the dramas was my real life, waiting in the wings to be lived. It was scary, but it called to me, reminding me that there is more to this life than a sidestepping of the inner world. This struggle for authenticity lives at the heart of the soulshaping journey.
There is the avoidant life, and then there is the one that is vulnerably true. Jeff Brown, M.A., Canadian lawyer, psychologist, body-centered psychotherapist, author, Facebook comment, 8. February 2011

Recommendations

Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire. St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Italian mystic, tertiary of the Dominican Order, Scholastic philosopher, theologian, festival day April 29, as quoted by Richard Chartres (*1947) English Gresham professor of divinity (1987-1992) Anglican Bishop of London, homily at the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate, Westminster Abbey, 29. April 2011

Your soul's voice is a transmission only you can give.
Emerging women,
➤ do not be afraid of your power,
➤ let your voice transmit all of who you are. […]
[D]are to speak Goddess, not English.
Life longs to hear you.

Video presentation by Sera Beak, US American scholar of comparative world religions, spiritual activist (redvolutionary), mentor, speaker, author, Sera Beak – In All Trembling Fears and Trembling Boldness, presented by Emerging Women Live conference, New York City, YouTube film, minutes 30:52, 38:15, 38:57 minutes duration, posted 7. December 2014

Do be true to yourself, whether it's bad doesn't matter.
The important thing – you have to copy while you're studying.
And culture – each of us – is like one pearl added to another to make a chain. We each contribute to the other. And that's all right.
But once you're on your own, do that which comes from within. And I feel this very strongly. Beatrice Wood [Esteemed American Artist] (1893-1998) US American artist, studio potter, author, lecture to fellow potters, undated

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. Attributed to Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish Freemason, alchemist, member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, dramatician, poet, writer, source unknown

Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel. Why? Because whenever you think or you believe or you know, you're a lot of other people: but the moment you feel, you're nobody-but-yourself.
To be nobody-but-yourself – in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else – means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. E. E. Cummings (1894-1962) US American painter, playwright, essayist, poet, author, George James Firmage, editor, Miscellany. A Miscellany, A Poet's Advice, S. 13, 1958

Being honest may not get you many friends but it'll always get you the right ones. John Lennon (1940-1980) English musician, singer-songwriter, founding member of the British music band The Beatles, source unknown

The more real you get the more unreal the world gets. John Lennon (1940-1980) English musician, singer-songwriter, founding member of the British music band The Beatles, source unknown

Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Don't worry about appearing sentimental. Worry about being unavailable; worry about being absent or fraudulent. Anne Lamott (*1954) US American recovering conversed alcoholic, bestselling author, Bird by Bird. Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Pantheon Books, 5. May 1994, Anchor, 1st edition 1. September 1995

How to write authentically:
1. Think of yourself as a revolutionary. Take risks.
2. Show your personality.
3. Express your ideas, no matter how zany.
4. Break a few writing rules.
5. Consider your moral obligation as a writer.

Anne Lamott (*1954) US American recovering conversed alcoholic, bestselling author, Bird by Bird. Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Pantheon Books, 5. May 1994, Anchor, 1st edition 1. September 1995

Question/appeal

Where is there dignity unless there is honesty? Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman statesman, political theorist, consul, lawyer, constitutionalist, philosopher, orator, author, collection of letters to close friend Titus Pomponius Atticus, Epistulae ad Atticum [Letters to Atticus] chapter VII, xi, 68-44 BC

Appeal

People can reasonably be expected to accept the truth. Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973) Austrian poet, author, acceptance speech for the award "Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden", Bundeshaus, Bonn, Germany, 17. March 1959; Works (Essays) Volume 4, S. 277, Piper, Munich, 1978

Conclusions

An honest man, who also has a certain amount of courage, will never use self-knowledge as a surrogate for life. Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychiatrist, psychoanalytist, founder of a new school of depth psychology, author, The Question of Psychological Types. The Correspondence of C. G. Jung and Hans Schmid-Guisan, 1915-1916, S. 1, 2012, 2015

I’m going to tell you something: thoughts are never honest. Emotions are. Albert Camus (1913-1960) French Algeria-born French philosopher, journalist, author, Nobel laureate in literature, 1957, Notebooks, 1951-1959, Volume 3, 1962, Ivan R. Dee, 1. June 2008, Rep Tra edition 16. October 2010

Authenticity is not something we have or don't have. It's practice – a conscious choice of how we want to live.
Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It's about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen. Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW (*1965) US American shame, vulnerability, empathy researcher, Graduate College of Social Work, University of Houston, public speaker, author, The Gifts of Imperfection. Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are S. 49, Hazelden, 1st edition 27. August 2010

What is most lacking in the modern world of duplications and facsimiles, of endless information and intentional misinformation, is the authenticity that makes life truly meaningful and spiritually rewarding. Michael Meade Mosaicvoices.org, US American storyteller, scholar of mythology, psychology, anthropology, ritualist, spokesman in the Men's Movement, author, Facebook comment, 6. September 2016

Without a deep level of trust, collaboration and communication breaks down and sends everything else into a downward spiral. Shanna Tellerman, US American founder and CEO of Modsy, cited in: Article How Authenticity, Honesty And Vulnerability Benefit Your Career, presented by the US American business magazine Forbes, Elana Lyn Gross, 21. July 2017

As we strive to improve our game, a clear and firm sense of self is a compass that helps us navigate choices and progress toward our goals. When we're looking to change our game, a too rigid self-concept becomes an anchor that keeps us from sailing forth. Article by Herminia Ibarra, Ph.D., US American professor of organizational behavior, professor of leadership and learning, The Authenticity Paradox, presented by the bimonthly management magazine Harvard Business Review (HBR), published by Harvard Business Publishing, January-February issue 2015

The task of calling things by their true names, of telling the truth to the best of our abilities, of knowing how we got here, of listening particularly to those who have been silenced in the past, of seeing how the myriad stories fit together and break apart, of using any privilege we may have been handed to undo privilege or expand its scope is each of our tasks. It's how we make the world. Rebecca Solnit (*1961) US American culture historian, journalist, writer, The Mother of All Questions, Haymarket Books, pocket book, 7. March 2017, cited in: Breaking Silence as Our Mightiest Weapon Against Oppression, presented by the free weekly digest Brain Pickings, host Maria Popova (*1984) Bulgarian critic, blogger, writer, 20. March 2017

Contrary to common understanding, a good man's actions are not always gentle. They may be ruthless, cold, and dispassionate. A friend of mine once made a very profound statement when he said, "when people act overly nice, I always wonder about their motives." Chin-Ning Chu, president of Asian Marketing Consultants, corporate trainer, consultant, lecturer, author, Thick Face, Black Heart. The Warrior Philosophy for Conquering the Challenges of Business and Life, S. 22, Grand Central Publishing, reprint edition 1. October 1994

Insights

The issue is not simply one of needing to save the world, but also of needing to solve the problem of loss of soul throughout the modern world. Part of what has been lost in the reckless rushing of modernity is the sense that each life has an authentic interior that shelters important emotions as well as inherent purpose, and that the dignity of existence includes a necessary instinct to unfold the unique story woven inside each living soul. Michael Meade Mosaicvoices.org, US American storyteller, scholar of mythology, psychology, anthropology, ritualist, spokesman in the Men's Movement, author, Facebook comment, 8. May 2017

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Unleashing the soul's voice

Reference to Beak's video presentation Sera Beak – In All Trembling Fears and Trembling Boldness, presented by Emerging Women Live conference, New York City, YouTube film, 38:57 minutes duration, posted 7. December 2014

Our soul's voice reveals our deepest wisdom and our deepest wounds, which is why unleashing our soul's voice is often our deepest desire and our deepest fear. We ache to be self-expressed, to be authentic, to totally let 'er rip and yet we are terrified of being that vulnerable, that raw, that real. So we edit, shape or even shut up our unique soul's voice in order to be accepted, successful, and even loved. But deep down in our bellies, where our power burns the brightest, we know we cannot be of service, we cannot be free, we cannot truly come alive if we aren't sharing the truth of who we are. Sera Beak, US American scholar of comparative world religions, spiritual activist (redvolutionary), mentor, speaker, author, Facebook entry 12. December 2014

For far too long we have been seduced into walking a path that did not lead us to ourselves.
For far too long we have said yes when we wanted to say no.
And for far too long we have said no when we desperately wanted to say yes. […]
When we don't listen to our intuition, we abandon our souls.
And we abandon our souls because we are afraid if we don't, others will abandon us.
Terry Tempest Williams (*1955) US American conservationist, activist, educator, writer, When Women Were Birds. Fifty-four Variations on Voice, Sarah Crichton Books, New York, 2012, Picador, reprint paperback issue 26. February 2013

It is better to be disliked for who you are than to be liked for who you are not. How much easier to be authentic than to pretend to be someone you are not. What a relief just to be. How clear and simple. How honest. How real. The only thing you really have to share with anyone, anyway, is your own state of being. Judith Indira Ann Parsons, US American angel reader, counselor, author, The Clear and Simple Way. A Book of Angel Lessons, 2007

Your reputation is in the hands of others. The only thing you can control is your character. Dr. Wayne Dyer (1940-2015) US American self-help advocate, spiritual lecturer, author, source unknown

What we're all striving for is authenticity, a spirit-to-spirit connection. Oprah Winfrey (*1954) US American talk show host, actress, visionary, billionaire, philanthropist, presented by the US American monthly magazine O, The Oprah Magazine, date unknown

In a world as chaotic as I described where people are moving in opposite directions at the same time the single most powerful paradigm to get our attention is authenticity. Video presentation by Watts Wacker (1953-2017) US American futurist, Watts Wacker: Internationally Acclaimed Mind Reading Comedian, YouTube film, minute 6:12, 6:24 minutes duration, posted 16. October 2009

If you are dishonest, you are excluded from the individuation process.
If you are dishonest, you are nothing for your unconscious.
The Great Man will spit on you, and you will be left far behind in your muddle – stuck, stupid, and idiotic.
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychiatrist, psychoanalytist, founder of a new school of depth psychology, author, R.F.C. Hull, editor, C.G. Jung Speaking. Interviews and Encounters, S. 359-364, Princeton University Press, December 1977, reprint edition 1. February 1987

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Need for authenticity suppressed in favor of attachment needs

Authenticity is being in touch with yourself and being able to act up your awareness of self in relationship to the environment. So if I feel something I pay attention to that, if I don't I am in danger.
If a child is confronted with a dilemma that 'If I am authentic, express my feelings, then my attachment needs are threatened, because my parents can't handle it, because they are too stressed, depressed, or traumatized themselves', then per force the child will automatically, but not consciously, suppress their authenticity. So the suppression of gut feelings and authenticity is a coping mechanism. That means I am not longer in touch with my needs. I pay no longer attention to my feelings, my emotions. I won't know what I need. […] It leads to an irresolvable tension between authenticity and attachment, that many children in our society are faced with that results in their self-suppression. One of the possible outcomes is niceness as a coping mechanism. […] The essential self [the inner voice] has not gone away and is calling to us and we don't feel right when we betray it. Video interview by Gabor Maté, M.D. drgabormate.com (*1944) Hungarian-Canadian physician, addiction expert, speaker, author, Attachment, Disease, and Addiction, presented by the video producer Touch the Future, suppressed questions by host, recorded 2012, YouTube film, minute 20:00, 1:19:57 duration, 20. June 2016

When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them. Martin Buber (1878-1965) Austrian-born Jewish religious researcher and philosopher, unsourced

A life truly lived constantly burns away veils of illusion, opening our eyes to our uniqueness.
A life truly lived constantly burns away what is no longer relevant, gradually reveals our essence, until, at last, we are strong enough to stand in our naked truth.
Marion Woodman (1928-2018) Canadian Jungian analyst, women's movement figure, mythopoetic author, Jill Mellick, co-author, Coming Home to Myself. Reflections for Nurturing a Woman's Body and Soul. Daily Reflections for a Woman's Body and Soul, S. 93, Conari Press, 1. May 1998, revised 31. May 2001

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) assassinated 16th US President (1861-1865), abolisher of slavery, Lincoln's Own Stories, Harper & Brothers, 1912

Jonagold apples

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Character: an engraved counter-manipulative apparatus

A derivative from the Greek 'charaxo,' meaning to engrave, 'character' makes reference to what is constant in a person, because it has been engraved upon one, and thus to behavioral, emotional and cognitive conditionings. […]
In the face of the lack of what he or she needs, the growing child has needed to manipulate, and we may say that character is, from one point of view, a counter-manipulative apparatus. Claudio Naranjo (1932-2019) Chilean psychiatrist, focused on integrating psychotherapy and the spiritual traditions, co-developer of the enneagram, Character and Neurosis. An Integrative View, Gateways/IDHHB, 1994

Honesty is the best policy – when there is money in it. Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835-1910) US American humorist, Freemason, author, speech, 30. March 1901

There is immense silent agony in the world, and the task of man is to be a voice for the plundered poor, to prevent the desecration of the soul and the violation of our dream of honesty. Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-born US American rabbi, leading Jewish theologian and philosopher of the 20th century, The Reasons for My Involvement in the Peace Movement, 1972, submitted by the Shalom Center, editor, 8. September 2001; later included in Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, pp. 224-226, Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1996

Prayer is the soul's sincere desire. Hymn by James Montgomery (1771-1854) British editor, poet, hymnwriter, source unknown

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Inauthenticity frame

The Insanity of Normality is programmed normopathy.

The Insanity of Normality is "the efficient way of getting along by lying to yourself and to others." Arno Gruen (1923-2015) German-Swiss psychologist, psychoanalyst, critic of civilization, author, Hildegarde Hannum, Hunter Hannum, translators, The Insanity of Normality. Realism As Sickness. Toward Understanding Human Destructiveness [Der Wahnsinn der Normalität, dtv, 1989], Grove/Atlantic, 1st English edition July 1992

Character is much easier kept than recovered. Insight by Thomas Paine [US Founding Father] (1737-1809) British US American Enlightenment philosopher, inventor, atheist intellectual, radical, revolutionary, pamphleteer, author, source unknown

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Distinguishing between the rebel and the revolutionary

I must make the important distinction between the rebel and the revolutionary. One is in ineradicable opposition to the other. The revolutionary seeks an external political change, "the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another." The origin of the term is the word revolve, literally meaning a turnover, as the revolution of a wheel. When the conditions under a given government are insufferable some groups may seek to break down that government in the conviction that any new form cannot but be better. Many revolutions, however, simply substitute one kind of government for another, the second no better than the first – which leaves the individual citizen, who has had to endure the inevitable anarchy between the two, worse off than before. Revolution may do more harm than good.
The rebel, on the other hand, is "one who opposes authority or restraint: one who breaks with established custom or tradition." [...] He seeks above all an internal change, a change in the attitudes, emotions, and outlook of the people to whom he is devoted. He often seems to be temperamentally unable to accept success and the ease it brings; he kicks against the pricks, and when one frontier is conquered, he soon becomes ill-at-ease and pushes on to the new frontier. He is drawn to the unquiet minds and spirits, for he shares their everlasting inability to accept stultifying control. He may, as Socrates did, refer to himself as the gadfly for the state – the one who keeps the state from settling down into a complacency, which is the first step toward decadance. No matter how much the rebel gives the appearance of being egocentric or of being on an "ego trip," this is a delusion; inwardly the authentic rebel is anything but brash. Rollo May may-rollo (1909-1994) US American existential psychologist, author, Power and Innocence. A Search for the Sources of Violence, chapter 11 The Humanity of the Rebel, 1972

Honesty is reached through the doorway of grief and loss. Where we cannot go in our mind, our memory, or our body is where we cannot be straight with another, with the world, or with our self. The fear of loss, in one form or another, is the motivator behind all conscious and unconscious dishonesties: all of us are afraid of loss, in all its forms, all of us, at times, are haunted or overwhelmed by the possibility of a disappearance, and all of us therefore, are one short step away from dishonesty. Every human being dwells intimately close to a door of revelation they are afraid to pass through. Honesty lies in understanding our close and necessary relationship with not wanting to hear the truth.
The ability to speak the truth is as much the ability to describe what it is like to stand in trepidation at this door, as it is to actually go through it and become that beautifully honest spiritual warrior, equal to all circumstances, we would like to become. Honesty is not the revealing of some foundational truth that gives us power over life or another or even the self, but a robust incarnation into the unknown unfolding vulnerability of existence, where we acknowledge how powerless we feel, how little we actually know, how afraid we are of not knowing and how astonished we are by the generous measure of loss that is conferred upon even the most average life.
Honesty is grounded in humility and indeed in humiliation, and in admitting exactly where we are powerless. Honesty is not found in revealing the truth, but in understanding how deeply afraid of it we are. To become honest is in effect to become fully and robustly incarnated into powerlessness. Honesty allows us to live with not knowing. We do not know the full story, we do not know where we are in the story; we do not know who is at fault or who will carry the blame in the end. Honesty is not a weapon to keep loss and heartbreak at bay, honesty is the outer diagnostic of our ability to come to ground in reality, the hardest attainable ground of all, the place where we actually dwell, the living, breathing frontier where there is no realistic choice between gain or loss. David Whyte (*1955) US American poet, author, Consolations. The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words, section "Honesty", Many Rivers Press, 1. January 2015

Sweet oranges

The healing begins with empathy, but the growth starts with honesty.
All healing begins with empathy, but growth starts with honesty.
Empathy is the massage, honesty is the [adjusting] chiropractic "crack".
Self-responsible honesty is so rare. Video presentation by Kelly Bryson, MA, MFT, US American licensed therapist, trainer for the International Center for Nonviolent Communication, consultant, lecturer, author, Personal Growth Through Honesty NVC, O'ahu, Hawaii, YouTube film, minute 00:31 minute 1:08, 4:48 minute, 6:17 minutes duration, posted 25. November 2008

[Great leaders of the past] had the capacity to take that larger question of "how things ought to be" into the future and decide how they ought to be. Once they began to live as though what ought to be was true, they had an authenticity that was just compelling. Complexity theory would call it a strange attractor, a legitimacy, an authenticity. And then they talked about it. They never wavered, no matter what the obstacle, or what the condemnation. And many of them died because they couldn't live any other way. Some of them were killed. [Socrates, Jesus] Interview with Dee Ward Hock (*1929) US American founder and CEO Emeritus of the VISA credit card association, founder of non-profit organization The Chaordic Commons, Transformation by Design, presented by the dissolved US American magazine "What is Enlightenment?", Melissa Hoffman, issue 22, 2003

The word "authentic" traditionally referred to any work of art that is an original, not a copy. When used to describe leadership, of course, it has other meanings – and they can be problematic. For example, the notion of adhering to one "true self" flies in the face of much research on how people evolve with experience, discovering facets of themselves they would never have unearthed through introspection alone. And being utterly transparent – disclosing every single thought and feeling – is both unrealistic and risky. Article by Herminia Ibarra, Ph.D., US American professor of organizational behavior, professor of leadership and learning, The Authenticity Paradox, presented by the bimonthly management magazine Harvard Business Review (HBR), published by Harvard Business Publishing, January-February issue 2015

Research suggests that over 95% of our behavior is unconsciously motivated. This statistic speaks to the importance of getting to know your shadow. The existence of these archetypes – driven by unmet needs and psychic wounds from childhood – are the causes of this unconscious behavior. [...].
Our mission is to strip away everything we’re not. Jung called the process of realizing this unique human individuation. You separate yourself or individuate from the archetypes and behavioral patterns of your culture and society to discover what you are – your Authentic Self. [...].
Self-liberation, then, is the goal of psychological work and it’s why "know thyself" was an essential dictum in Ancient Greece. It brings us to personal freedom. It liberates us to our unconscious motivations and habits of the past. And it is everyone's birthright.

Blog article by Scott Jeffrey, US American business and marketing consultant, author, The Ultimate Guide to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for Understanding Motivation, presented by the blogspot "CEO Sage", issued 19. January 2020

The whole force of urban-industrialism upon our tastes is to convince us that artificiality is not only inevitable, but better. Theodore Roszak, Ph.D. (1933-2011) US American professor emeritus of history, author, source unknown

A genius is the one most like himself. Thelonious Monk (1917-1982) US American jazz pianist and composer, source unknown

The authentic self is the best part of a human being. It's the part of you that already cares, that is already passionate about evolution. When your authentic self miraculously awakens and becomes stronger than your ego, then you will truly begin to make a difference in this world. You will literally enter into a partnership with the creative principle. ⚡ Andrew Cohen (*1955) resigned US American enlightenment guru (1986-2013), musician, founder of the dissolved magazine What is Enlightenment? / EnlightenNext, author, source unknown

References: en.Wikiquote entries ► Sincerity and ► Honesty and ► Candor

Literary quotes

Persons with character are as easy to spot as if they were a different color. Self-trust and the perception that virtue is enough is the essence of character. It is the natural tendency to defy falseness and wrong. It speaks the truth, and it is just, generous, hospitable, temperate, despises pettiness, and is scornful of being scorned. Character persists when the mood has passed in which the decision to act was made. Character displays undaunted boldness and a fortitude that does not wear down or out.
When the soul is not master of one's reactions to the world, then that soul is everyone’s dupe. The person of character is not for sale. He does not ask to dine nicely and to sleep warm. He does not need plenty; he can lose with grace. Character is persistent. The person of character makes a choice based on honorable considerations and sticks with it and, no matter what, does not weakly try to reconcile itself with the world.
The person of character knows that he is born into a state of war and his own well-being requires that he should not go dancing for peace. Knowing this, he collects himself and neither defying nor dreading the thunder, he takes both his reputation and his own life in his hand, and, with perfect calm and politeness, dares the hangman and the mob by the absolute truth of his speech, and the correctness of his behavior. Toward all external evil, the person of character affirms his ability to cope single-handedly with an infinite army of enemies. To this military attitude of the soul we give the name of heroism.
No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character. The heroic character does not accept the conventional opinions and practices. He is a nonconformist. Acquiescence to the establishment indicates lack of character which must see the house built before they can comprehend the plan.
There is a class of individuals which are endowed with character, heroism, insight and virtue. They are usually received with ill-will by the masses. No one can use common beliefs to understand these characters. They cannot be judged from glimpses. They need perspective, as a landscape. You cannot understand them by popular ethics nor by simple observation of their actions. It is said that He who confronts the gods knows heaven. This is the nature of the person of character.
The heroic character is a person of truth, master of his own actions, and expresses that mastery in his behavior, not in any manner dependent and servile either on persons, or opinions, or possessions.
People of character are an energetic class, full of courage and of attempts which intimidate their paler brethren. Being up to the demands of their very nature, they can out pray saints, out general veterans and outshine all courtesy. They are comfortable with pirates and scholars.
Money is not essential to the aristocrat, which is the true class of those of heroic character. Society among aristocrats is mutually agreeable and stimulating. By swift consent, everything superfluous is dropped, everything graceful is renewed. Good manners are a formidable defense against the common people.The manners of the aristocrat are aped by the commoners, but never understood.
Aristocrats never do as the common people do when following fashion. They understand that "fashion" is virtue gone to seed. Aristocrats are sowers, people of fashion are reapers.
Each person's position in life depends on some symmetry in his inner makeup. A natural aristocrat will find his way to those of his own kind. Those of good breeding and personal superiority readily find each other. A person should not go where he cannot carry his whole sphere with him. A defect in manners or character is usually a defect in perceptions. In addition to personal force and perception, an aristocrat is also good natured, generous and obliging.
Times of heroism are generally times of terror, but the day never dawns in which this element is without value. Latent inner power is what we call Character, a reserved force which acts directly by presence, and without means. It is conceived of as a certain indemonstrable force, a Familiar of Genius, by whose impulses the hero is guided, but whose counsels he cannot impart. Character is of a stellar and indiminishable greatness.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) US American philosopher, Unitarian, lecturer, poet, essayist, Essays. First Series, chapter 8 "Heroism", Prudence, 1841, Charles E. Merrill Company, New York, 1907

The authentic rebel knows that the silencing of all his adversaries is the last thing on earth he wishes: their extermination would deprive him and whoever else remains alive from the uniqueness, the originality, and the capacity for insight that these enemies – being human – also have and could share with him. If we wish the death of our enemies, we cannot talk about the community of man. In the losing of the chance for dialogue with our enemies, we are the poorer. Rollo May may-rollo (1909-1994) US American existential psychologist, author, Power and Innocence. A Search for the Sources of Violence, chapter 11 "The Humanity of the Rebel", 1972

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.
Foreword by Anne Rice (*1941) US American bestselling author of metaphysical gothic fiction, erotica and Christian literature, defining her impression of Franz Kafka's writing style, cited in: Franz Kafka (1883-1924) Austrian-Hungarian culturally influential German-language novelist, The Metamorphosis, A Hunger Artist, In the Penal Colony, and Other Stories, start page 1, quote page 3, Schocken Books, New York, June 1995, Richer Resources Publications, paperback, 15. September 2009

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit
"Sometimes", said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.
"When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.
But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." Margery Williams (1881-1944) English-American author, children's novel The Velveteen Rabbit or How Toys Become Real, George H. Doran Company, 1922

Humor

There's one way to find out if a man is honest – ask him. If he says, "Yes," you know he is a crook. Groucho Marx (1890-1977) US American comedian, entertainer, actor, source unknown

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Quotes on truth

Truth is one, the sages speak of it by many names. Vedas Hindu wisdom scripture

They who imagine truth in untruth, and see untruth in truth, never arrive at truth, but follow vain desires. They who know truth in truth, and untruth in untruth, arrive at truth, and follow true desires. Buddha (563-483 BC) Indian Avatar, teacher of enlightenment, central figure of Buddhism, Dhammapada, anthology of Buddha's teachings, verses 11-12

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8, 31-32 (NT)

Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Matthew 10, 34 (NT)

For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth. 2 Corinthians 13, 8 (NT)

Jesus said, Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds.
And when he finds he shall be troubled.
And being troubled he shall marvel.
And he shall reign over the totality {and find repose}.
Gospel of Thomas verse 002, part of the Biblical apocrypha, 50-140, 350 AD, rediscovered 1945

Personal avowals

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall, always. Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian Hindu sage, spiritual activist leader, humanitarian, lawyer, nonviolent freedom fighter, source unknown

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) assassinated 16th US President (1861-1865), abolisher of slavery, source unknown

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) US American Baptist minister, activist, leader of the African American civil rights movement, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 10. December 1964

We are trying to make our own truth and global truth a seamless web. Gloria Steinem gloriasteinem.com (*1934) leading US American feminist of the new women's movement, visionary and political activist, founder and editor of the feminist magazine Ms., journalist, writer, source unknown

No one knows the truth. No one knows what, or who I am. And the longer it takes them to discover this, the more famous I will be. Michael Jackson ['King of Pop'] (1958-2009) US American singer-songwriter, musician, recording artist, entertainer, dancer, philanthropist, source unknown, 1987

Recommendations

Have confidence in the truth, although you may not be able to comprehend it, although you may suppose its sweetness to be bitter, although you may shrink from it at first. Trust in the Truth. [...] Have faith ? in the Truth and live it. Buddha Indian avatar, teacher of enlightenment, central figure of Buddhism, source unknown

If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning of things is not understood,
the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.

Attributed to the Third Chinese Chán (Zen) Patriarch Jianzhi Sengcan (†606), poem Xinxin Ming¹

Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth."
Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.
Khalil Gibran (1883-1931) Lebanese American painter, philosopher, poet, writer, 26 prose poetry essays The Prophet, Online version, Alfred A. Knopf, 1923, 1980, Laurier Books, 14. April 2003

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. Attributed to Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) assassinated 16th US President (1861-1865), abolisher of slavery, aphorism

Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it. Robert Kennedy (1925-1968) US American justice minister, Democratic senator from New York, civil rights activist, younger brother of the 35th US president John F. Kennedy, unsourced quote

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant.
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise […]

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) US American poet, poem

Appeals

In all ages [the fate] has, to some extent, befallen all knowledge, and especially the weightiest knowledge of the truth, to which only a brief triumph is allotted between the two long periods in which it is condemned as paradoxical or disparaged as trivial. […] But life is short, and truth works far and lives long: let us speak the truth Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher, faculty member, author, The World as Will and Representation [Welt als Wille und Vorstellung] 1819, expanded 1844, expanded 1859

Let each man choose: will he remain a witting servant of the lies, or has the time come for him to stand straight as an honest man, worthy of the respect of his children and contemporaries? Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) Soviet and Russian historian, imprisoned in the Soviet gulag, dramatist, novelist, Nobel laureate in literature, 1970, The Solzhenitsyn Reader. New and Essential Writings, 1947-2005, ISI Books, 2006, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2nd edition 1. January 2009

Evolution

Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors.
But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.
Khalil Gibran (1883-1931) Lebanese American painter, philosopher, poet, writer, Robin H. Waterfield, editor, Juan R. I. Cole, translator, The Vision. Reflections on the Way of the Soul (Compass), first issued 1994. Penguin, 1. January 1998

Conclusion

When you know that you know that you know you are not going to be removed from that truth. Video interview with Dr. Isa Lindwall (†2009) US American founder of Releasing, Starr Talk, part 1 of 3, presented by host Robert Bruce Starr, YouTube film, minute 5:21, 10:01 minutes duration, posted by lindwallreleasing 7. June 2009

Insights

Life is a comedy. Each day is a wonderful adventure, full of fun and laughter. Most important, remember this: The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable. Jamie Buckingham, religious book The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Make You Miserable, 1988

Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected. Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian Hindu sage, spiritual activist leader, humanitarian, lawyer, nonviolent freedom fighter, source unknown

Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth. Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian Hindu sage, spiritual activist leader, humanitarian, lawyer, nonviolent freedom fighter, source unknown

The desire for truth is the highest of all desires, yet, it is still a desire. All desires must be given up for the real to be. [...] When all search ceases, it is the Supreme State. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981) Indian Hindu sage of the advaita vedānta tradition, I Am That. Talks with Sri Nisargadatta, Acorn Press, 1973, June 1990

Children say that people are hung sometimes for speaking the truth. Joan of Arc (1412-1431) French Catholic saint, martyr, national heroine of France, trial transcript, cited in: Frank Boott Goodrich, World Famous Women. Types of Female Heroism, Beauty, and Influence from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time, S. 126, 1881

Wine is strong, the king stronger, women stronger still, but the truth is the strongest. Titus Flavius Josephus [Joseph ben Matityahu] (37-100 AD) 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian, hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry, 20-volume historiographical work Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11 "The Book of Esdras", 93-94 AD

No one in the world can change TRUTH! What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hecatombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: GOOD and evil, sin and LOVE. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves? Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) German Polish Franciscan friar, martyr, saint of the Catholic Church, source unknown

Self-examination is the process of accountability to your soul [...]. It is far better to "become" your truth than to speak your truth. Self-examination is the practice of becoming your truth. Caroline Myss Myss.com (*1952) US American spiritual teacher, mystic, medical intuitive, bestselling author, Entering the Castle. An Inner Path to God and Your Soul, S. 66, Free Press, March 2007

Everything can be taken from a man but [...] the last of the human freedoms – to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) Austrian psychiatrist, psychotherapist, neurologist, Nazi death camp survivor, meaning researcher, founder of logotherapy, source unknown

Occasionally he stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened. ⚡ Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British prime minister of the United Kingdom during the 2nd World War (1940-1945) and (1951-1955), racist war criminal, cited in: Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947) British Conservative politician, Richard M. Langworth, editor, Churchill by Himself, S. 322, PublicAffairs, 2008

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-born US American theoretical physicist, developer of the theory of general relativity, Nobel laureate in physics, 1921, source unknown

Strange times are these in which we live when old and young are taught in falsehoods school. And the one man that dares to tell the truth is called at once a lunatic and fool. Plato (427-347 BC) Ancient Greek pre-Christian philosopher, founder of the occidental philosophy, source unknown

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Eyes to see

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, cited in: Melissa Giovagnoli, Angels in the workplace. Stories and inspirations for creating a new world of work, 1999

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All truths are half-truths.

There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays to the devil. Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician, philosopher, pioneering integralist, metaphysical educator, author, Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, "Prologue", 1954, David R. Godine Publisher, 2001

The truth comes as conqueror only because we have lost the art of receiving it as guest. Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali philosopher, musician, painter, playwright, poet, novelist, Nobel laureate in literature, 1913, The Fourfold Way of India, 1924

The nearest each of us can come to God is by loving the truth. […]
In speaking of truth we are not talking about the position to take that seems to put you in the most favorable light.

Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) US American engineer, systems theorist, architect, constructor, designer, inventor, futurist, philosopher, author, Critical Path, S. 58 and S. 59, St. Martin's Press, 1981

The truth is simple. If it was complicated, everybody would understand it. Walt Whitman (1819-1892) US American Quaker, journalist, poet, essayist, aphorism

Most people would actually prefer "satisfying untruth" to "unsatisfying truth." Father Richard Rohr O.F.M. (*1943) US American Franciscan friar, Discovering the Right Questions Versus Having Answers, presented by Malespirituality.org, September 2006

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Unsourced variant:

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.

Two sorts of truth: profound truths recognized by the fact that the opposite is also a profound truth, in contrast to trivialities where opposites are obviously absurd. Niels Bohr (1885-1962) Danish quantum physicist, Nobel Prize laureate in physics, 1922, cited in: Hans Bohr, son of Niels Bohr, Stefan Rozental, Niels Bohr. His Life and Work as Seen by his Friends and Colleagues, Kapitel "Mein Vater", S. 328, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1967

It is the hallmark of any deep truth that its negation is also a deep truth. Niels Bohr (1885-1962) Danish quantum physicist, Nobel Prize laureate in physics, 1922, cited in: Max Delbrück, Mind from Matter. An Essay on Evolutionary Epistemology, S. 167, 1986

Truth springs from argument amongst friends. David Hume (1711-1776) Scottish atheistic philosopher, economist, historian, source unknown

Truth is such a rare thing, it is delighted to tell it. Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) US American poet, source unknown

Truth, like love and sleep, resents approaches that are too intense. W. H. Auden (1907-1973) Anglo-American poet, famous writer of the 20th century, Collected Poems, New Year Letter, S. 166, 1940

Joseph exclaimed, "Oh, if only it were possible to find understanding. If only there were a dogma to believe in. Everything is contradictory, everything tangential; there are no certainties anywhere. Everything can be interpreted one way and then again interpreted in the opposite sense. The whole of world history can be explained as development and progress and can also be seen as nothing but decadence and meaninglessness. Isn’t there any truth? Is there no real and valid doctrine?"
The master […] said: "There is truth, my boy. But the doctrine you desire, absolute, perfect dogma that alone provides wisdom, does not exist. Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend. Rather, you should long for the perfection of yourself. The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught. Be prepared for conflicts." Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) German-born Swiss novelist, poet, The Glass Bead Game, novel, S. 83, 1931-1943

Sometimes it’s a foolish thing to offer the truth, sometimes more foolish to withhold it. At certain moments, telling the truth is necessary; at critical times the inner confusion and pain must be spoken out for things to become clear. Michael Meade Mosaicvoices.org US American storyteller, mythologist, ritualist, spokesman in the Men's Movement, author, Fate and Destiny. The Two Agreements of the Soul, Greenfire Press, 30. September 2010

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) US American social activist, abolitionist, leading figure of the early woman's movement, co-founder and president of the first Women's Temperance Movement

The truth will ultimately dissolve the hurt, but this is a by-product. In fact, it is only in the presence of compassion, will people allow themselves to see the truth. Where there is no compassion there is no trust. A.H. Almaas, Ph.D. (*1944) Kuwaitian physicist, spiritual teacher, founder of the therapeutic Diamond Approach, author, Elements of the Real in Man (Diamond Heart, Book 1), S. 92, Diamond Books, 1st edition 5. September 2000

During times of [universal] deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. Attributed to George Orwell [Eric Arthur Blair] (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer, earliest evidence of above quote cited in: Venturino Giorgio Venturini's book Partners in Ecocide. Australia's Complicity in the Uranium Cartel, Australia, 1982

If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish dramatician, poet, writer, aphorism

Force never disproves truth. Erich Fromm (1900-1980) German US American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, author, Man for Himself. An Inquiry Into the Psychology of Ethics, S. 246, Routledge, 1947, Holt Paperbacks, 15. November 1990

When a woman tells the truth she is creating the possibility for more truth around her. Adrienne Rich (1929-2012) US American visiting professor of creative writing, feminist, poet, essayist, Women and Honor. Some Notes on Lying, S. 191, 1. June 1977

New opinions often appear
1. first as jokes and fancies,
2. then as blasphemies and treason,
3. then as questions open to discussion,
4. and finally as established truths.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish politician, pacifist, satirist, dramatist, Nobel laureate in literature, 1925

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Phrase expressed by literary character 'Sherlock Holmes'

The truth is only exposed after the painstaking elimination of what is not true. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) Scottish physician, writer, source unknown

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinions without the discomfort of thought. John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) assassinated 35th US American president (1917-1963), speech at Yale University, 11. June 1962

Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion – and who, therefore, in the next instant (when it is evident that the minority is the stronger) assume its opinion [...] while Truth again reverts to a new minority. Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Danish philosopher, theologian, writer, Alexander Dru, translator, Journals of Kierkegaard, written 1850, Harper Torchbooks, paperback edition 1959

All your life you live so close to the truth, it becomes a permanent blur in the corner of your eye, and when something nudges it into outline it is like being ambushed by a grotesque. Tom Stoppard, OM, CBE, FRSL (*1937) Czech British playwright, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, 1966

To tell the truth with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent. William Blake (1757-1827) English painter, engraver, illustrator, poet

There's a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth. Maya Angelou (1928-2014) US American educator, historian, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer, director, poet, bestselling author, source unknown

A prophet is not a man who tells the future; he is a man who tells the truth. Harold S. Kushner (*1935) US American progressive rabbi of Conservative Judaism, author, source unknown

The truth which makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear. Herbert Agar (1897-1980) US American journalist, editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for History, 1934

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Liespotting

A lie has no power whatsoever by its mere utterance; its power emerges when someone else agrees to believe the lie. Video presentation by Pamela Meyer, US American Harvard MBA, certified fraud examiner, founder and CEO of Simpatico Networks, leading private label social networking company, author, How to spot a liar, presented by TED Talks Global 2011, minute 1:52, 18:51 minutes duration, filmed July 2011, posted October 2011

Blumen in Blumenvase, Balthasar van der Ast
(1593-1657) niederländischer Maler

Truth is a sword that cuts in all directions. It is a mind that is unprejudiced by religion, philosophy, and cultural conditioning. It is going naked in the stars. Christopher Calder, US American former Osho Sannyasin, cult critic

All truth passes through three stages.
1. First, it is ridiculed or distorted.
2. Second, it is violently opposed.
3. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher, faculty member, author, source unknown

Facts do not convey truth. That's a mistake.
Facts create norms, but truth creates illumination.
Werner Herzog (*1942) German film director, producer, opera director, actor, screenwriter, source unknown

Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit. Edward R. Murrow KBE (1908-1965) US American broadcast journalist, source unknown

Whosoever wishes to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details.
Knowledge is not intelligence.
In searching for the truth be ready for the unexpected. Heraclitus of Ephesus (535/520-475/460 BC) pre-Socratic Ancient Greek philosopher, source unknown

Because it is sometimes so unbelievable, the truth often escapes being known. Heraclitus of Ephesus (535/520-475/460 BC) pre-Socratic Ancient Greek philosopher, source unknown

The truth is always exciting. Speak it, then. Life is dull without it. Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) US American writer, Nobel laureate in literature, mostly living in China until 1934, source unknown

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Widely used paraphrase:

"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities."

Certainly, any one who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. If you do not use the intelligence with which God endowed your mind to resist believing impossibilities, you will not be able to use the sense of injustice which God planted in your heart to resist a command to do evil. Once a single faculty of your soul has been tyrannized, all the other faculties will submit to the same fate. This has been the cause of all the religious crimes that have flooded the earth. Voltaire [François-Marie Arouet] (1694-1778) French philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, social critic, proponent of the French Revolution, advocate of civil liberties, freedom of religion, free trade, deist, writer, Questions sur les miracles, 1765, cited in: Norman L. Torrey (1894-1980 ) US American translator, author, Les Philosophes. The Philosophers of the Enlightenment and Modern Democracy, S. 277-278, Capricorn Books, 5th edition 1960

There is nothing to fear except the persistent refusal to find out the truth, the persistent refusal to analyze the causes of happenings. Dorothy Thompson (1893-1961) US American anthologist, radio broadcaster, journalist, freelance writer, source unknown

There are not truths, there are just stories. Saying of the Zuni, American Native tribe

You can never know the Truth. Why? Because you are the Truth. Ramesh Balsekar (1917-2009) indischer Advaitalehrer, Schüler von Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, source unknown

It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and expose lies. Noam Chomsky (*1928) US American professor emeritus of linguistics, philosopher, cognitive scientist, social activist, source unknown

Truth lives a wretched life, but always survives a lie. Anonymous

It's not a matter of what is true but a matter of what is perceived to be true. ⚡ Henry Kissinger (*1923) German-born US American political scientist, diplomat, US secretary of state (1969-1977), Nobel Peace Prize recipient, 1973, source unknown

Reference: en.Wikiquote entry ► Truth

Literary quotes

Who dares to call the child by its right name?
The few who have some part of it descried,
Yet fools enough to guard not their full hearts,
Revealing to riffraff both their insight and their feeling,
Men have of old burned at the stake and crucified.
Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) German polymath, poet, playwright, dramatist, novelist, drama Faust. A Tragedy V. (text) [1808], Thomas Boosey and Sons, London, 1821, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1976

Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881) Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays, philosophical novel Crime and Punishment, The Russian Messenger (series), 1866

My wish for you […] is that your skeptic-eclectic brain be flooded with the light of truth. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) Soviet and Russian historian, imprisoned in the Soviet gulag, dramatist, novelist, Nobel laureate in literature, 1970, novel In the First Circle, 1968, Harper Perennial, uncensored edition 2009

The Master maintained that what the whole world held to be true is false;
so the pioneer is always in a minority of one.
He said: "You think of Truth as if it were a formula you can pick up from a book.
If you wish to follow Truth you must learn to walk alone."

Anthony de Mello SJ (1931-1987) Indian Catholic Jesuit priest, psychotherapist, spiritual leader, author, Parables of the Master, Awareness. Conversations with the Masters, Doubleday, New York, Image, reprint paperback edition 1. June 1990, May 1992

Movie lines

People who hate the light usually hate the truth. Statement by Burt Lancaster as character John Malcolm in the US American drama film Separated Tables, issued 1958 Lancaster: "People who hate the light usually hate the truth.", YouTube film clip, 2:56 minutes duration, posted 1. June 2011

Poem

This above all – to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English actor, playwright, dramatist, lyricist,
character Polonius in the tragedy Hamlet, act 1, scene iii, ~1602

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Quotes on deception and lying

Recommendations

Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it. Reasoning of Adolf Hitler [Führer and Reichskanzler] (1889-1945) Austrian-German fascist leader of the Nazi Party during the Third Reich (1933-1945)

Conclusion

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Effect of layered web of lies

A truth's initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed. It wasn't the world being round that agitated people, but that the world wasn't flat. When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic. Attributed to Donald James Wheal [Thomas Dresden] (1931-2008) British scriptwriter, television writer, non-fiction writer, novelist

Deceit is the Cinderella of human nature; essential to our humanity but disowned by its perpetrators at every turn. It is normal, natural, and pervasive. It is not, as popular opinion would have it, reducible to mental illness or moral failure. Human society is a network of lies and deceptions that would collapse under the weight of too much honesty. David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D. (*1953) US American associate professor of philosophy and religious studies, University of New England, psychoanalytic psychotherapist, founder of the New England Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology, author, Why We Lie. The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, S. 2, St. Martin's Press, 1st edition 1. July 2004

[Paraphrased] Self-deception is adaptive in the Darwinian sense. Smith cites biologist Robert L. Trivers as arguing that self-deception is adaptive because it is easier to fool others when we have first fooled ourselves. David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D. (*1953) US American associate professor of philosophy and religious studies, University of New England, psychoanalytic psychotherapist, founder of the New England Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology, author, The Most Dangerous Animal. Human Nature and the Origins of War, S. 126, St. Martins Press, 7. August 2007

The power to deceive is our main weapon in the struggle for social survival. […] Self-deception has been a wonderful gift, but it is now destroying us. Our taste for it resembles our craving for sugar and animal fat. […] The most dangerous forms of self-deception are the collective ones. Patriotism, moral crusades, and religious fervor across nations are like plagues, slicing the world into good and evil, defender and aggressor, right and wrong. David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D. (*1953) US American associate professor of philosophy and religious studies, University of New England, psychoanalytic psychotherapist, founder of the New England Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology, author, Why We Lie. The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, St. Martin's Press, 1st edition 1. July 2004

The ever-present possibility of deceit is a crucial dimension of every human relationship, even the most central: our relationship with our very selves. David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D. (*1953) US American associate professor of philosophy and religious studies, University of New England, psychoanalytic psychotherapist, founder of the New England Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology, author, Why We Lie. The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, quote on the inside jacket cover, St. Martin's Press, 1st edition 1. July 2004

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Self-deception and repression

Self-deception (repression) cannot logically exist.
It is extremely pervasive.
It is a hallmark of the healthy mind.
It is at the core of the process that generates mental illness.

Jordan Peterson, Ph.D. (*1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, professor of psychology, University of Toronto, political scientist, author, Self-Deception. A Comprehensive Analysis, posted on homepage 2014, further explained in paper Self-Deception Explained, PDF, ~2015

The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere. Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906-2001) pioneering US American aviator, author, spouse of fellow aviator Charles Lindbergh, source unknown

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Lies studied and exposed

Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it. Article by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) Anglo-Irish cleric, dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, political pamphleteer, satirist, poet, essayist, presented by The Examiner, Number 15, page 2, column 1, printed for John Morphew, near Stationers-Hall, London, 2. November 1710

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Lies studied and exposed

I think that rnost often lies fail because the liar has not adequately prepared the false line he or she intends to maintain. One obvious example is when the liar forgets what he has said on one occasion and thoroughly contradicts himself on another occasion. Paul Ekman, Ph.D. paulekman.com (*1934) US American professor of psychology, anthropologist, pioneer in the study of emotions, UCSF, author, Lying And Nonverbal Behavior. Theoretical Issues And New Findings, PDF, presented by the Journal Of Nonverbal Behavior, volume 12, issue 3, S. 164 (163-175), Human Sciences Press, fall 1988

Usually lies about emotions involve more than just fabricating an emotion which is not felt. They also require concealing an emotion which is actually being experienced. Concealment often goes hand in hand with fabrication. The liar feigns emotion to mask signs of the emotion to be concealed. Paul Ekman, Ph.D. paulekman.com (*1934) US American professor of psychology, anthropologist, pioneer in the study of emotions, UCSF, author, Lying And Nonverbal Behavior. Theoretical Issues And New Findings, PDF, presented by the Journal Of Nonverbal Behavior, volume 12, issue 3, S. 165 (163-175), Human Sciences Press, fall 1988

Lies which are not about emotions may be betrayed by emotions the liar feels about the process of lying. Chief among these feelings about lying are the fear of being caught, guilt about lying, and what l have called duping delight, the pleasure and excitement of putting one over. Not all lies will call forth these emotions. Paul Ekman, Ph.D. paulekman.com (*1934) US American professor of psychology, anthropologist, pioneer in the study of emotions, UCSF, author, Lying And Nonverbal Behavior. Theoretical Issues And New Findings, PDF, presented by the Journal Of Nonverbal Behavior, volume 12, issue 3, S. 165 (163-175), Human Sciences Press, fall 1988

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The most popular people are the biggest liars.

There is research showing that the people who are most popular and the most socially skilled are the best at lying. And that is because most of the time we don't want to hear the truth. If you think about someone who is always telling you the truth, 100% of the time. That person is blunt, is seen as not someone who is not someone who we want to have in our lives. So in fact, we very often welcome these lies. Audio interview with Robert Feldman, Ph.D., US American psychology professor, University of Massachusetts, leading researcher on lying and deception, author, audio MP3, presented by WNYC Radio, program The Liar in Your Life, host Robert Feldman, minute 12:06, 20:27 minutes duration, YouTube film, 5:13 minutes duration, posted by wnycradio 3. August 2009

Life is suffering. And suffering can make you resentful, murderous and then genocidal, if you take it far enough. [Walls of luxury and delusion will fall apart eventually.] The truth is the antidote to suffering. And the reason for that is because the truth puts reality behind you so that you can face the reality that is coming straight at you without becoming weak and resentful and wishing for the destruction of being, because that’s the final hell. [...] The final hell is your soul wishing for the destruction of everything, because it’s too painful, and you are too bitter, and that happens to people all the time. Video interview with Jordan Peterson, Ph.D. (*1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, professor of psychology, University of Toronto, political scientist, author, Joe Rogan Experience #877 – Jordan Peterson, presented by The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, host Joe Rogan (*1967) US American comedian and sports color commentator, YouTube film, minute 2:26:32, 2:50:05 minutes duration, 28. November 2016

Life is hard, it’s no wonder people get corrupted by it. It's not an easy thing to live in a truthful manner, but the alternative is hell. […] I learned a lot about the importance of spoken truth as the counterveiling force against tyranny and authoritarianism. It isn't an alternative political structure that’s counterveiling force, it's spoken truth that’s the counterveiling force. […] The ability to speak your truth is the bullwark against hell. And losing your job that's nothing compared to where things can go, when they go badly. […] Most people don't understand the risks of [pathological] silence. Video interview with Jordan Peterson, Ph.D. (*1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, professor of psychology, University of Toronto, political scientist, author, Joe Rogan Experience #877 – Jordan Peterson, presented by The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, host Joe Rogan (*1967) US American comedian and sports color commentator, YouTube film, minute 2:37:33, 2:50:05 minutes duration, 28. November 2016

A white lie is not morally bad. It's ethically justifiable to provide white lies. In fact, if you did not provide white lies society would be a very, very difficult place to exist in. […] In order to survive in society you have to provide white lies, because white lies make the other person feel comfortable. Video interview with John Furedy, Canadian emeritus professor of psychology, University of Toronto, Psychology of Lying, presented by the Canadian TV station TVO, Ontario, program "Think About", YouTube film, minute 2:05, 8:22 minutes duration, posted 7. December 2009

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Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon, was fighting tears at this moment of his speech.

Today we have with us a group of students among America's best, to you we say: We've only completed a beginning, we leave you [...] much that is undone. There are great ideas undiscovered. Breakthroughs available to those who can remove one of truth's protective layers. Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) US American aviator, astronaut, professor of aerospace engineering, Cryptic speech hinting to a cover up, 25th anniversary of the Moon Landing, White House, 1994, YouTube film, 0:50 minutes duration, posted 22. August 2007

Teachers, religious leaders – even friends, or so called friends – take over where parents leave off. They demand that we feel only the feelings they want and expect from us. They demand all the time that we perform feelings for them. We're like actors – turned loose in this world to wander in search of a phantom […] endlessly searching for a half-forgotten shadow of our lost reality. When others demand that we become the people they want us to be, they force us to destroy the person we really are. It’s a subtle kind of murder […] the most loving parents ? and relatives commit this murder with smiles on their faces. Jim Morrison (1943-1971) US American lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors, poet, Jim Morrison thoughts on freedom – Lizzie James interview, originally recorded in 1969, originally published as article Jim Morrison: Ten Years Gone by CREEM Magazine special edition, Ms. Lizzie James, 1981, republished by the Blogroll Patrick Wanis Ph.D., 16. April 2014

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Quote misattributed to George Orwell

The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it. Opinion piece Stopping Truth At The Border: Banning Michael Savage From Britain, presented by the Conservative Crusader, Selwyn Duke, US American columnist, 6. May 2009

Great liars are also great magicians. Adolf Hitler [Führer and Reichskanzler] (1889-1945) Austrian-German fascist leader of the Nazi Party during the Third Reich (1933-1945), source unknown

The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one. Adolf Hitler [Führer and Reichskanzler] (1889-1945) Austrian-German fascist leader of the Nazi Party during the Third Reich (1933-1945), source unknown

This "big lie" has become something we cannot ignore – unless we wall ourselves off from conventional society altogether. Adolf Hitler [Führer and Reichskanzler] (1889-1945) Austrian-German fascist leader of the Nazi Party during the Third Reich (1933-1945), source unknown

References: en.Wikiquote entries ► Lying and ► Dishonesty

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Quotes by David R. Hawkins

⚠ Caveat See Power vs. Truth, January 2013

Every civilization is characterized by native principles. If the principles of a civilization are noble, it succeeds; if they are selfish, it falls. As a term, "principles" may sound abstract, but the consequences of principles are quite concrete. If we examine principles we will see that they reside in an invisible realm within consciousness itself. Although we can point out examples of honesty in the world, honesty itself as an organizing principle central to civilization is nowhere independently existent in the external world. True power, then, emanates from consciousness itself; what we see is a visible manifestation of the invisible. Dr. David R. Hawkins, Power vs. Force. The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, Hay House, February 2002

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Contrasting pairs of emotions, feeling states, and attitudes on the issue of authenticity In alphabetical order

Positive (strong) response (above 200) – Negative (weak) response (below 200)

Candid – Calculating
Honest – Legal'''

Dr. David R. Hawkins, Power vs. Force. The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, chapter 9 "Power Patterns in Human Attitudes", S. 146-147, Hay House, February 2002

It is very immature to expect others to live up to one’s own standards or ideals. Let us not overlook that
- the majority of people have no reason other than to ‘take what they can get’. Seventy-eight percent of the people on the planet calibrate below the level of Integrity at 200.
- They are not committed to spiritual truth [LoC 500], which to them is fiction or idealistic nonsense.
- Fairness, consideration, honesty, and ethics do not prevail at consciousness levels below 200. When they do, it is the exception rather than the rule.

Dr. David R. Hawkins, The Eye of the I From Which Nothing is Hidden, S. 267, 2001

The way to Truth is via radical honesty. Dr. David R. Hawkins, I. Reality and Subjectivity, S. 383, 2003

The general human experience throughout time has been that true, inner self-honesty at great depth is possible only with God's help, for understandably, the ego alone is quite unlikely to cooperate with its own demise and extinction as the moving, dominant force in one's life. Dr. David R. Hawkins, Transcending Levels of Consciousness, S. 244, 2006

Honesty [LoC 475] admits to error and mistakes and takes on the responsibility of their rectification. All humanity and its institutions are on a learning curve so that tolerance for human error is more appropriate than denunciation. (In Christian theology, 'sin' is technically actually error.) Dr. David R. Hawkins, Reality, Spirituality and Modern Man, S. 56, 2008

Humility is not just an attitude, but also a reality based on facts. With inner honesty [LoC 475], a devotee needs to realize the limitation inherent in just being human. Dr. David R. Hawkins, Along the Path to Enlightenment. 365 Reflections from David R. Hawkins, edited by Scott Jeffrey, Reflection of August 29th, January 2011

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Literature (engl.)

David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D. (*1953) US American associate professor of philosophy and religious studies, University of New England, psychoanalytic psychotherapist, founder of the New England Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology, author, Why We Lie. The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, St. Martin's Press, 1st edition 1. July 2004
Ralph Keyes, US American lecturer, author, The Post-Truth Era. Dishonesty and Deception in Contemporary Life, St. Martin's Press, 1st edition 7. October 2004
Thomas d'Ansembourg (*1957) French psychotherapist, Being Genuine. Stop Being Nice, Start Being Real, Puddledancer Press, 1st edition 28. May 2007
Mike Robbins, US American speaker, author, Be Yourself, Everyone Else Is Already Taken: Transform Your Life with the Power of Authenticity. The Power of Authenticity to Transform Your Life and Relationships, John Wiley and Sons, 1st edition 6. April 2009
Kelly Bryson, MA, MFT, US American licensed therapist, trainer for the International Center for Nonviolent Communication, consultant, lecturer, author, Don't Be Nice, Be Real. Balancing Passion for Self with Compassion for Others, Elite Books, 2nd edition 1. January 2010
Gary Zukav seatofthesoul.com (*1942) US American spiritual teacher, author, Spiritual Partnership. The Journey to Authentic Power, HarperOne, New York, 1st edition 27. April 2010

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Externe Weblinks

Wikipedia-Einträge Echtheit

Hinderk M. Emrich, deutscher Arzt für Neurologie und Psychiatrie, Leiter klinische Psychopharmakologie und Erwachsenenpsychiatrie, Max-Planck-Institut für Psychiatrie, München, Zur Entstehung authentischer Bilder. Beiträge der Neurobiologie, präsentiert von Nachdemfilm.de, 1. Dezember 2000

THEMEN: Wie wirklich ist die Wirklichkeit?
Authentizität durch Berührung, Echtheit – man sieht nur, was man weiß, Narrative Identität, Mimesis, C.G. Jungs offene Symbole, Wie für den Konstruktivismus Bilder im Kopf entstehen, Wodurch werden Bilder authentisch?

Beitrag Wie kam es dazu, dass Du Angepasstsein und Nettsein gegen Echtsein getauscht hast?, präsentiert von der kalifornischen Frage-und-Antwort Webseite Quora, Elfriede Ammann, Refererenz zu Gabor Maté und Arno Gruen, 744 Aufrufe · 22 Likes, 20. März 2019

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External web links (engl.)

Wikipedia entries Authenticity, Radical honesty

Blog article by Bethany Webster, The Power of Disruptive Truth-telling: The Importance of Initiating Difficult Conversations, presented by Womb of Light, 2017
Q&A contribution How do I find my true self?, presented on the Californian question-and-answer website Quora, Elfriede Ammann, reference to Gabor Maté, 117 views · 5 upvotes, 13. March 2019

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Audio- und Videolinks

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Audio and video links (engl.)

Video interview with Barack Obama (*1961) 44th US president, Authenticity, presented by Harpo Productions, Oprah.com, host Oprah Winfrey (*1954) US American talk show host, actress, visionary, billionaire, philanthropist, 1:27 minutes duration, posted 12. January 2009
Video inaugural presentation by Jim Carrey (*1962) Canadian-American actor, comedian, producer, The Real Jim Carrey, GATE Event 2009, sponsored by Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment, filmed and produced by Eckhart Tolle TV, availed also by Mindful Living Foundation, YouTube film, 4:34 minutes duration, posted 23. January 2010

After several bouts of depression Carrey shares his encounter with awakening induced by a DMT drug experience.

Video interview with Gary Zukav seatofthesoul.com (*1942) US American spiritual teacher, author, presented by the Author magazine, YouTube film, posted 11. June 2010
- The creation of authentic power, 7:25 minutes duration
- The creation of authentic power, 5:37 minutes duration
Video presentation by Dr. Maria Sirois, US American inspirational speaker, consultant, and licensed clinical psychologist, Living an authentic life: Dr. Maria Sirois at TEDxBerkshires, presented by TEDxBerkshires 2012, Lenox, Massachusetts, 15. May 2012, YouTube film, 14:36 minutes duration, posted 14. January 2013
Video presentation and Q&A with Gabor Maté, M.D. drgabormate.com (*1944) Hungarian-Canadian physician, addiction expert, speaker, author, Authenticity, presented by the Paloma Foundation, workshop, 15. November 2012, YouTube film, 35:51 minutes duration, posted 9. April 2017
Video Fernsehinterview Arno Gruen – Leben als Original, präsentiert von dem ersten Fernsehprogramm des Schweizer Radio und Fernsehens (SRF) SRF 1, wöchentliche Diskussionsrunde Sternstunde Philosophie, Gastgeber Juri Steiner, Sendetermin 7. Juni 2015, YouTube Film, 56:46 Minuten Dauer, eingestellt 8. Juni 2015

Gruen geht es darum, dass der Mensch zu sich und zu seinen wahren Gefühlen findet.

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Hawkins

¹ Hsin Hsin Ming by Seng-T'san ⇑

Anhand der Skala des Bewusstseins (von 1-1000), erarbeitet von Dr. David R. Hawkins, hat Echtheit (Authentizität) einen Bewusstseinswert von 475. Dies plaziert Echtheit in den Bereich der vernunftbezogenen Spiritualität.
Quelle: Reality, Spirituality and Modern Man, S. 116, 2008

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