Guest Blogger: Rob

As a fellow scribe who strives to become better at my craft as the years go by I have learned there is a vast difference between emotional honesty and The Truth. There is so much ballyhoo and righteousness bandied about concerning The Truth and how important it is and how we must be honest at all times. In honest, true real interactions with other people NOBODY wants you to be 100% honest and truthful with them. No one! And what is The Truth and Honesty? What is true and real for one person can be the polar opposite for another. Facts? History. Read a little, and you will soon see that there are few "facts" that are not fuzzy and foggy, that do not change as time goes by. Science? Fact? Most science is one person's hypothesis and they "prove" it. But what was solid scientific fact 100 or even 5 years ago can be discounted as ridiculous today. Honesty? I've had the skin flayed from my heart by people who felt they HAD to tell me the truth, as they saw it, about me ("I'm just being honest.").

I've come to believe that it's much more honest and truthful to be AUTHENTIC and COMPASSIONATE. Emotional honesty in writing is, I think exactly this: Sharing an authentic emotional situation, feeling. being able to communicate it with words and characters. A "real" name or an alias is not as important as the authenticity of feeling you elicit. Some of the most moving stories in the world (the Quaran, the Bible, the Gosho, the Upanishads) were written down by scribes whose names are lost, whose identities are nebulous and mythical.

Be authentic and compassionate, particularly towards yourself. You have a wonderful gift and thank you for sharing it.