Truth

We have to open our awareness to internal and external experience. Through trust emergence we confidently meet the unpredictable moment. Listening deeply to our inner voice and to the voice of other people, we then come to the edge of outward action, to speaking the truth.Speaking the truth must be grounded in morality, mindfulness, and the mutual elements of our practice. Thus, in insight dialogue, we commit to right (ethical) speech, truth, and kindness.
Speaking the truth asks us to re-examine the process and function of verbal communication. To speak the truth, we must know the truth. Because we are referring to the subjective truth of our experience, we must listen internally to discern this truth. Thus, speaking enters our practice through mindfulness. Mindfulness can occur because of the stabilizing support of the other insight dialogue guidelines. Clarity arises when the mind is energetic, mindful, calm, spacious (Pause-Relax-Open) and unattached (Trust Emergence).
Establishing this mindfulness while speaking is not easy. Because we conceptualize experience when we speak, we can easily jump into thinking and out of the present moment. Mindfulness of bodily sensations, such as noticing our posture can help us return to the moment. Mind had the capacity to do this while we speak. We can also use the positive power of the very words we speak to deconstruct those words and the mind’s belief in its fabrications as we interact with our co-meditators. Communication becomes meditative contact.
Speaking the truth invites us to bring our highest intentions and our refined perceptions into language. Speaking the truth enables us to cultivate wholesome mind states through kind and wise speech.