Short story: A lecture on honesty by a Zen master

Tweet

The Zen master, Gregor Sompshin, was lecturing his students about honesty. Let us listen in on what he said: "The honesty of life only is honest, when the love of life lives within the honesty, otherwise, honesty is skewed by whatever it is pushed into, as if you try to make honest, that which is not honest, by cheating honestly, for example, this never does work." "Honesty has to be total, as is love, as any partial honesty is never real honesty, but still a shady form of operating." "You cannot cheat someone honestly, as even if you are being mostly honest with them, any deviation from this honesty spoils the whole effort to be honest." "Honesty always only exists in the land of love, and never anywhere else." "You cannot even have one foot in love, and the other straddling a fence into somewhere else." "Love is love only, totally so, as is honesty honesty, totally so, too." "Love is honest, when fully lived from. All dishonesty is only lack of sufficient love." "This might seem harsh, but nevertheless, it is true." "Honesty, total honesty is always related to total loving." In total loving, we are vulnerable as well, and so honesty to be given must be total, or it is better not given at all." "Honesty is only love, loving in its own way." "All true love is honest." "Honesty is loving another soul wholly and completely, and honesty, and giving others our own honest truth, is really the true measure of how much we love them." "Love enough to be honest, and be honest enough to love." "Honesty grows with your experiences of love, and love grows wiser in you to honestly give itself more honestly as you try to be more loving in your honesty." "The two (love and honesty) are connected intimately, and when you try to be more honest, you will learn more about being more loving. When you strive to be more loving, you will be more honest as a result as well." "Honesty is never properly given, unless love is connected to it." Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com The old Zen master knew a thing, or two, about honesty, and love "Honesty, like truth, never has fears of questions." ~Unknown Author