Raven 89: Honesty

To get more muscles, use your muscles; acting confident helps you feel confident; per Aristotle, to become courageous, do courageous things. This is not about fooling others or yourself or pretending you know what you don't. It's about character formation, not expertise development. It's about being intentional and practicing it until it gets easier. Feeling compassionate may be the cause of an act of compassion -- or it may be the result.

Case

Black Bear came to a meeting late and said, "I'm feeling frazzled after dealing with my cubs. What if I don't feel compassionate?"
Raven said, "Fake it."
"That doesn't seem honest," said Black Bear.
"It doesn't begin with honesty," said Raven.

Verse

The stream occluded or not;
The fox hungry or fed,
The star shining steadily or exploding nova,
See how they never lie?
How they tell nothing but the truth,
Never concerning themselves with honesty?

Case by Robert Aitken; introduction and verse by Meredith Garmon

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