Speaking to what is true

I was in many conversations yesterday, and they all held a similar theme.

Our inability to speak to the truth, particularly in the presence of perceived power.

First, to find the clarity below the jumble of emotions. We spurt out a chaos of words, all seeking coherence. Yet making it almost impossible for the person we are speaking to to find the sense-making thread. Then getting mad as hell at them, when they do not. And the cycle of misunderstanding continues.

We lie to ourselves, failing to admit the truth of our feelings. Or what we want. This is self-deception. If we cannot admit truth to ourselves first, how could we possibly expect someone else to know the truth of what we speak?

Go deep into your being. What exactly do you want to say? What do you need? What do you fear? Remove all extraneous words. The complications. Bring it down to a transmission.

We soften the blow for those we are speaking to. Yet injure ourselves in so doing. 

We are too nice. 

We are too nice because we fear the backlash. The spit. The anger and hate. 

We long to be liked and accepted, to belong.

What would love and care do? Love and care for the other? 

Women worn down from a lifetime of being on the frontlines of speaking against the mighty fist of exploitation and extraction, retreat, exhausted.

Men who have been trained to ‘not feel’ leak anger. Where else can it go? It must escape.

Our collective failure to speak truth, with care and compassion, is our first Little Atrocity.  https://syntropic.world/little-atrocities-the-path-from-integrity-to-self-deception-and-bad-business/

We step over small and big acts of emotional, spiritual and physical violations and lies. Those we make with ourselves and others. Those that others make to us.

When we do, we become complicit in the very thing we are seeking to change.

We must, with extreme urgency, learn to speak truth against petty and major violations, lies and oppression.

And we must help others do the same.

PS. This is what we teach people to do in the Dare to Care Workshop. The next workshop is now open for enrolment, commencing at the end of October and at a time suitable for the Americas and Europe. https://syntropic.world/dare-to-care/

Photo Taken September 4th 2025, Article published September 4th, 2025