The WHOLE Truth

 In court, as a witness, one places a hand on an ancient book of wisdoms and pledges to tell "the whole truth and nothing but the truth". What is the "whole" truth? The pledge isn't always done, even though marked, because the "whole truth" can be a dangerous thing. It's everything around, over and above the truth, and thus is seldom told. Most of us try very hard to tell truth while others may not and call it "a little white lie" or "I can't because the real truth might hurt" or a host of other excuses to never quite make the "whole" truth. Why can't we tell the whole truth? What's so hard about it? Aha. The whole truth is like, in front of us, a gargantuan mountain or a bottomless pit. We protect the whole truth because it feels too big to climb or to span. It's our secret, our very personal one, that isn't for public knowledge. We carry it. We hold it. We don't want to drop it. It's always there and we know it's needed to emerge, but we guard it and ignore it and often treasure it, because, like a precious gem, only our unique selves can see it. Thus, it's our specific need and special. Sometimes this "whole" truth haunts us so that we dream about it only in fear it might be seen. But it's safe within a room inside us, a place that no one else can enter. There are people who know that eventually, they must out this truth, but if they do, they fear the consequences. The consequences might hurt someone else, or worse, themselves. There are brave souls who do let the whole truth free and find it, while an enormous relief, also now a tremendous burden. Perhaps "tis better to bear the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" than let them go? Revealing whole truth isn't just a small matter: it involves all kinds of complicated little truths that snowball and grow into something we may not expect. We may very much regret having allowed it to escape. It feels good in some ways and painful in others, but all in all, the whole truth is no longer an unclimbable mountain or bottomless depth to fear. It has incredibly and simply disappeared. Surprisingly, it makes life clear, a better place to live, to breathe and to continue.