Speak the Truth Fearlessly

In this moment of time of change with the coming into the Winter Solstice next week and then the New Year of 2017 with a new President the opportunity is to face what is, and is coming, fearlessly. These words from Jack Kornfield are appropriate for these times of change, flux, and re-centering for finding one's strength and stepping forward.

"True strength meets the vulnerability of life with caring and courage. True strength knows that there are two great powers in this world. The first is those who are unafraid to kill. The other is those who are unafraid to love. Even in situations of great danger, true strength chooses love. Martin Luther King Jr. demonstrated the strength of this love in the darkest hours, saying, “We will meet suffering with soul force.” It takes courage to truly feel the weight of each other’s suffering, courage to honor the other side’s fears of annihilation and loss of dignity. Yet until pain and fear are held in a wise way, the cycles of hatred will continue.

True strength also brings clarity, like a sword that cuts through illusion. It is called discriminating wisdom. When we are not locked in blame or struggle, we can see things as they are. “We can,” says William Butler Yeats, “make our minds so like still water that beings gather around us that they may see… their own images, and so live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life because of our quiet.” When needed, we can be fierce and strong, wielding the sword of clarity. Liberated from anger, we can speak the truth fearlessly. At the same time we are free of ill will, so our actions care for the welfare of all."