Articulation of the truth of one’s subjective experience with mindfulness; discernment of what to say amid the universe of possibilities; ripens into an acute sensitivity to the voice of the moment that “speaks through” the practitioner.
Speak the Truth flows out of the other Insight Dialogue guidelines. It rests on the mindfulness of the Pause. It stabilizes with Relax. It engages relationally with Open and gains flexibility with Attune to Emergence.
In Insight Dialogue, to Speak the Truth is to, as best we can, put words to the subjective truth of our internal experience. Both mindfulness and discernment are essential for speaking the truth. We know experience through mindfulness living into the question “What’s true now?” Applying discernment, we speak only what is useful, not more. When we Speak the Truth, what is true and to be spoken changes as we speak, evolving in each Pause as subjective experience unfolds.
Speaking engages a bevy of habits, of how we think and how we relate to others. Bringing mindfulness to speaking reveals these habits and enables their release. Bringing speech into meditation builds a bridge between silent meditation practice and everyday life, making the fruits of formal practice and Dhamma study available where we engage the world. Speaking in meditation can also help counter the tendency to use meditation as a vehicle for bypassing or avoiding difficult aspects of the human experience, hiding in the silence and seclusion of traditional practice.