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Honesty is one of the most important virtues. Without a certain degree of honesty throughout society, there would be chaos and anarchy. That is because we assume a level of trust that "things are what they seem" and people generally "tell the truth". |
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While such daily assumption may occassionally turn out to be sorely misplaced, as a general rule, belief that people are generally honest helps us survive each day. The alternative is complete paranoia - questioning everything and everyone. |
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Etymology (origin) of the word Honesty |
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The word honesty comes from the Latin
word honestus, honos, both modifications of the ancient Latin word honor
(honour), hence the original meaning “of persons holding an honorable
position, respectable.” |
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In simplest terms, the original meaning of honesty was the by-product of respectability and trust associated with a person holding an honorable position- therefore a bishop would be (in the original meaning of the word) assumed to be more honest than a street cleaner. |
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In English, there are a range of meanings and attributes associated with the
word honesty, namely: |
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•Sincere, truthful, candid- that will not lie, cheat or steal (1400) |
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•Of actions, feelings, etc: fair straightforward: free from fraud
(1400’s) |
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•Decent in appearance; comely, neat, tidy (1566) |
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•Of a thing: genuine (1598) |
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•Ingenuous; open; frank (1634) |
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•Of persons of good moral character, virtuous, upright (1702) |
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•Honorable, creditable (1720) |
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The modern understanding of honesty |
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While the origin of honesty (along with
the word honor) come from a background more to do with position, than
character, there are a range of key qualities that have grown with the word. We
can essentially summarize the most important of these as definitions that
define “clarity of signal/image” namely “truthful, sincere,
open, frank". |
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Honesty is not only about sincerity of output, but clarity of observation. Inner clarity of signal enables us to be in touch with what our body and our
mind is telling us. Without internal clarity of signal it is difficult to keep
track and be aligned. |
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Remarkably, we understand the nature of a clear signal when considering the
importance of television or mobile phone reception, but spend little time
considering the same concept within ourselves. |
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The second key quality of honesty relates to the concept of being neat and tidy.
This may appear to be in conflict with the behaviour and teachings of many wise
and holy gurus and mystics over the ages who promoted the wearing of rags. |
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In a sense, the implied meaning of honesty equating to neat and tidy dress betrays as weakness in the word and human character that considers superficial appearance as a measure of honesty. |
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Honesty as one of the six (6) key present moment emotions |
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Honesty is special as one of six (6) key emotions called the VIRS that may all be experienced simultaneously in the present moment of time. The others are (in order) respect, consistency, enthusiasm, compassion and cheerfulness. |
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Unlike most negative emotions that rely upon a person shifting their focus primarily to the past, or the future, respect is firmly a "present moment" emotion. |
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Finding answers |
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You might be interested in finding more answers in relation to this emotion. If this is the case then the Journey of Self might be of interest. |
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If you would like a practical answer and something that may help you in relation to this issue right now, then please click on reflections to see one or more reflections you can immediately use about this issue. |
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