STAR-SEARCHER: What is the most valuable knowledge that I can learn and apply?
EXPERIENCE: The value of honesty.
STAR-SEARCHER: You know, that's really odd because I thought you would say something really wise and sublime like love. I just never expected you to say that honesty was the most valuable knowledge that I could learn and apply!
EXPERIENCE: Can you successfully maintain the brotherly love of a friendship, (or the love of a relationship), without being honest?
STAR-SEARCHER: I never thought about it that way before. I guess you can't. But ... .
EXPERIENCE: Yes?
STAR-SEARCHER: Well do you have to be completely honest? Do you have to be 100% honest to be capable of successfully maintaining brotherly love; or a loving relationship of any kind?
EXPERIENCE: To maintain a 100% loving relationship, yes, you need 100% honesty.
STAR-SEARCHER: But that's incredible!
EXPERIENCE: Incredible?
STAR-SEARCHER: Yes, incredible! Look what happens if a person is just 99% honest. Surely you will agree that such a person would be considered a living saint by the average person.
EXPERIENCE: Relatively speaking yes. However, 99% honesty means 1% dishonesty. The question then becomes, in what area of the relationship might this 1% dishonesty manifest?
STAR-SEARCHER: What do you mean?
EXPERIENCE: That 1% dishonesty could show up as: stealing, cheating, lying, sophistry, infidelity, or any combination thereof.
STAR-SEARCHER: Why does it matter how the 1% dishonesty manifests?
EXPERIENCE: It is an individual consideration. The partner in a relationship may react in varying degrees to different manifestations of dishonesty. For instance, a small lie may be easily overlooked unless it has catastrophic ramifications. Actions such as cheating your partner's parents may not be easily overlooked.
STAR-SEARCHER: Can you say that in another way please?
EXPERIENCE: Yes. It can be said in many ways. The extent of the personal reaction to the 1% dishonesty will determine the degree with which the quality of the relationship is diminished.
STAR-SEARCHER: Er sorry. I guess I'm a bit slow here. Would you please explain it again -- perhaps in a different way?
EXPERIENCE: If a trusted person is let into a house, and that person intentionally takes a valuable item, then if detected, it is reasonable to believe that the thief will most probably not be invited back. Right?
STAR-SEARCHER: I agree.
EXPERIENCE: Now let's imagine that instead of a house the person was trusted to enter the treasury of the heart of their partner (or friend) and the person misused some of that which the partner (or friend) treasures.
STAR-SEARCHER: Oh I see. The dishonest act is interpreted as a betrayal of confidence, and the betrayer may never be allowed, in any way, near the treasury of the heart again.
EXPERIENCE: Yes. You are getting the picture. People react to deceit. Some react mildly. Some react with very strong emotions. Some will kill (or want to kill) when they feel that they have been betrayed.
STAR-SEARCHER: But, if most people are not 100% honest, then most people are involved in these "betrayals" every day. They, in varying degrees, betray and get betrayed.
EXPERIENCE: Precisely. We figure that we won't get caught so we proceed with our 1% deceptions (our 1% dishonesties).
STAR-SEARCHER: Naturally! If we thought that we would get caught, then we wouldn't do that particular deceptive act. That is if we ... .
EXPERIENCE: Were normal -- is that what you were going to say?
STAR-SEARCHER: Yes. That's exactly what I was going to say. Isn't that incredible! I was actually thinking that a person is normal if he, or she, acts prudently with his, or her, 1% deceptions. That's incredible! I never thought that I would think something so insane. I am shocked at my own irrational thinking!
EXPERIENCE: Don't be too hard on yourself. Honestly has a way of turning personal reflection into an exercise in humility. Besides, you have been thinking that way for so long that your habit patterns of thought are probably, at this moment, urging you to defend the irrationality of your 1% deception as "normal".
STAR-SEARCHER: That's exactly right! My thoughts are that not all deceptions are detected. Yet that means that some deceptions are detected.
EXPERIENCE: Therefore?
STAR-SEARCHER: Some of us get caught being deceptive.
EXPERIENCE: What happens in a loving relationship when one person is detected as intentionally attempting to deceive the other?
STAR-SEARCHER: Well, its like you said. There will be a reaction. But ... .
EXPERIENCE: Yes? I heard that "but". Buts are usually mentally loaded for the kill.
STAR-SEARCHER: Well, if its only a little deception surely it wouldn't destroy the relationship?
EXPERIENCE: Would you trust someone that you felt intentionally deceived you?
STAR-SEARCHER: Well it all depends. Maybe I'd trust him (or her) a little.
EXPERIENCE: How little?
STAR-SEARCHER: Well maybe I'd trust the person to go to the store for a loaf of bread, but not if I really needed the loaf of bread. I wouldn't send a person on an important mission if that person had a history of deceit.
EXPERIENCE: What else?
STAR-SEARCHER: Well, I guess it all depends on how they deceived me.
EXPERIENCE: Let me put it this way. Would you trust a person who has deceived you, in any way, with respect to the treasures of your heart?
STAR-SEARCHER: No!
EXPERIENCE: Why?
STAR-SEARCHER: Because if they deceived me once they are capable of attempting to deceive me again.
EXPERIENCE: But won't you forgive the person who deceived you?
STAR-SEARCHER: I may be able to forgive the person who deceived me. (I hope that I could). But I am not stupid enough to leave an open door for a thief.
EXPERIENCE: Even if only a small item was stolen?
STAR-SEARCHER: If that person would deceive me for a small item, then what would that person do if a Kingdom was at stake?
EXPERIENCE: Would you say that yours is a strong reaction to being deceived, or a mild one?
STAR-SEARCHER: I think it is a rational response to deception. Don't you?
EXPERIENCE: Perhaps, but as you have stated, most everyone engages in a small amount of deception. Are you going to now lock out the vast majority of Humanity because we are practicing at least 1% deception?
STAR-SEARCHER: Are you saying that I have to learn how to live with deception and except it as a reality in my life?
EXPERIENCE: As you yourself have wisely pointed out, most of us are at least 1% dishonest, (1% deceptive). Therefore, since you recognize this as a fact, in essence, you are declaring that at this time in Man's development at least 1% deception is a reality.
STAR-SEARCHER: But are you saying that it's right to be deceptive?
EXPERIENCE: Absolutely not.
STAR-SEARCHER: Then will you please forgive my frustration and tell me just what in the universe you are getting at?
EXPERIENCE: ((pregnant pause)) The value of honesty.
STAR-SEARCHER: Oh I see. You were indirectly pointing out the value of honesty by helping me to see the incredible problems associated with deceit -- the opposite of honesty. But ... .
EXPERIENCE: Go ahead, I heard that but.
STAR-SEARCHER: But why are you doing this?
EXPERIENCE: You asked me for the most valuable knowledge that you could learn and apply.
STAR-SEARCHER: Yes. Yes, I did. [[slowly]] I'm sorry for my resistance to your response to my call for knowledge. Thank you. Thank you very much for your patience with me.
EXPERIENCE: You are welcome, Star-Searcher, and don't worry, I am used to your resistance. I should thank you for helping me to increase my level of patience. All kidding aside, I sense that you may soon be ready to search your inner sky. But, for now, are you satisfied with your knowledge of the value of honesty?
STAR-SEARCHER: Well, I am and I am not. Do you know what I mean?
EXPERIENCE: Yes, its perfectly clear.
STAR-SEARCHER: It is? I mean, I am? Really?
EXPERIENCE: Star-searcher that 1% deception in you would team up with your vanity to produce the grandest and most confusing rationalization in order to justify deception as "not all that bad". But I will not tire where the value of honesty is at stake.
STAR-SEARCHER: You are absolutely correct. Inside I keep on saying, "But 1% dishonest can't be that bad if most people are doing it".
EXPERIENCE: The ones who are successfully deceptive a high percentage of the time do not advertise their acts of dishonesty. These deceptive ones do not want their prey to discover their individual lack of discernment and thus begin to learn how to close their doors to deception. On the other hand, those who are not successfully deceptive, (the ones who get caught), also do not advertise their acts of deception, for they know that people will react in various ways.
STAR-SEARCHER: Are you trying to tell me that there is a lot more deception going on in this universe than I am aware of?
EXPERIENCE: Precisely. You are not that vain where you would assume that you know all that is going on.
STAR-SEARCHER: No. Of course not. (I hope I'm not that vain.).
EXPERIENCE: Let's look at this another way. If a house were constructed out of 100 stone blocks, then each block would represent 1% of the structure. Would it not?
STAR-SEARCHER: Yes it would. One block would be 1% of the house.
EXPERIENCE: Now which block would you remove so that you could have a structure only 99% complete?
STAR-SEARCHER: What's this? Remove one block?
EXPERIENCE: Precisely. From what area of the house would you remove the one block?
STAR-SEARCHER: Well, I don't really know.
EXPERIENCE: Would you remove it from the foundation?
STAR-SEARCHER: No. Definitely not from the foundation.
EXPERIENCE: The roof then, would you remove the one block from the roof?
STAR-SEARCHER: The roof? No. I would never mess with the roof.
EXPERIENCE: Why not?
STAR-SEARCHER: Because it would leak water when it rains. It would also lose heat in the winter.
EXPERIENCE: Well then, you would remove the block from one of the walls. Which wall shall it be: North, East, South or West?
STAR-SEARCHER: Which wall? But I don't want to mess with the walls of my house either. If I took a block from one of the walls then I would still be letting heat out in the winter, and it would be hotter in the summer. A hole in the wall would destroy privacy, not to mention security.
EXPERIENCE: Well then, you say that you would be satisfied with a structure that is 1% incomplete, yet you seem to be unwilling to let go of that 1%.
STAR-SEARCHER: Ah I think your right. I wouldn't want a house with 1% missing.
EXPERIENCE: Why?
STAR-SEARCHER: Well, it would make the house uncomfortable to live in, not to mention its inefficiency.
EXPERIENCE: Inefficiency?
STAR-SEARCHER: Well, a missing block, (1% of the house), would mean a hotter house in the summer and a colder house in the winter. So I would have to put more money into the heating and air conditioning of the house than I would if it were 100% complete. So I have to work harder to make the extra money to pay the bills on an inefficient house.
EXPERIENCE: How would 1% dishonesty, (1% deception), make the structure of a loving relationship inefficient?
STAR-SEARCHER: Well, the first thing that comes to mind is the mental energy needed to maintain a lie. A person has to remember every lie told as well as its ramifications in order to maintain the facade of honesty. Otherwise the person would be detected as a liar and not be trusted by the people he or she intends to deceive. You know, now that I think of it, I can see that 1% dishonesty as a real destroyer of a relationship because it implies disrespect.
EXPERIENCE: Disrespect?
STAR-SEARCHER: Well yes. If a person tries to deceive me, then it means that he, or she, cannot have much respect for me as a fellow Human Being. If the person respected me, then that person would not think of deceiving me. Likewise, the person would not even think of stealing from me or in any other way of being dishonest toward me. Respect, I believe, stops dishonest thinking. Even if a person liked me, that person would have to search for something he, or she, disrespected in me before being able to attempt to deceive me. Its a matter of conscience.
EXPERIENCE: Well then, if you feel uncomfortable with 1% dishonesty in a relationship, then what percent dishonesty would you feel comfortable with -- one half of 1%, one quarter?
STAR-SEARCHER: Now I'm seeing a bit clearer. Thank you. Thank you for showing me the error of my thinking about the value of honesty. I can see now that the critical factor in my growth is to set my goal for the most complete honesty and then strive to achieve it no matter what the rest of Humanity is doing with their one percent. I will strive to shrink my deception to zero. But... .
EXPERIENCE: Another but? What is it now Star-Searcher?
STAR-SEARCHER: I suppose that I will have to give up the game of chess now.
EXPERIENCE: Chess?
STAR-SEARCHER: I can't be 100% honest if I still like to play chess can I?
EXPERIENCE: Chess is a game. Deception is considered part of that game. Both players sit down to the game with the full knowledge that it is part of the game for both players to try to win, even if the process of winning entails deception. Both players agree to the rules and to play by the rules, therefore, neither player will consider it a betrayal if they are deceived by a subtle move. On the contrary, they may even exclaim, "Good move!". Now if their deception became unbridled and leaped off the chess board to run wild in the streets and take advantage of people then that would be a violation of Free Will. But on the chess board it is not a violation of Free Will.
STAR-SEARCHER: Last question, I promise.
EXPERIENCE: Famous last words. Go ahead, what is your question Star-Searcher?
STAR-SEARCHER: Does my knowledge of the value of honesty make my inner light brighter and more beautiful?
EXPERIENCE: Knowledge is one thing Star-Searcher, but wisdom is quite another.
STAR-SEARCHER: Are you saying that wisdom is greater than knowledge?
EXPERIENCE: Wisdom cannot exist without knowledge.
STAR-SEARCHER: Well then what is wisdom?
EXPERIENCE: Wisdom, Star-Searcher, is the accurate application of accurate knowledge for the greatest good.
STAR-SEARCHER: So we must first gain knowledge before we can gain wisdom. Is that right?
EXPERIENCE: Star-Searcher, to have knowledge of the value of honesty, yet never apply that knowledge is not the way of wisdom, nor is it the way to achieve honesty.
STAR-SEARCHER: So the real secret is not just gaining accurate knowledge but also learning how to apply that accurate knowledge. It's all in the application.
EXPERIENCE: It is precisely through the lessons of experience that we gradually increase the quality of our application of accurate knowledge. This quality is reflected in the light of our aura, (the electromagnetic field around our bodies). You can be sure, Star-Searcher, achievement on the way to the most complete honesty will increase the brightness, as well as the beauty, of the traveler's Light. The traveler must achieve a certain degree of honesty before his, or her, Light will attract the attention of The Teachers In The Hierarchy Of Light, for "Above all else, The Hierarchy of Light values honesty".
STAR-SEARCHER: Thank you. I believe that you have truly helped me understand the most valuable knowledge that I can learn and apply. Thank You again for everything.
EXPERIENCE: Star searcher, you have caught a glimpse of a magnificent goal. Always remember that the reward for honesty is trust. Go now. The gates to the Land of No Deception await your knock. Strive-on!