It’s hard to be honest.
When I was teaching high school I was sometimes
challenged by a student who rejected what I was saying, often defending her
resistance with, “Well, I’m entitled to my own opinion!” My rejoinder, “No, you’re not, at least not until
you’ve taken steps to form it properly. You are not entitled until you opine.”
An opinion is the result of thinking. It’s not a
feeling or a prejudice or what I would like to be true. An opinion is the
result of an honest search for the truth. It requires effort. It means using
both one’s intellect and will in a quest for accuracy, verity, honesty. And God
knows, it’s hard to be honest.
That honesty is rare may be assumed by noting that
of all the United States presidents only Washington and Lincoln are
characterized by or remembered for their honesty. Washington’s “I cannot tell a
lie” story may be apocryphal but it does affirm history’s respect for a man who
is honest.
And in his biography of Lincoln, William Herndon,
his law partner, concluded, “In the grand review of his peculiar characteristics,
nothing creates such an impressive effect as his love of the truth. It looms up
over everything else. His life is proof of the assertion that he never yielded
in his fundamental conception of truth to any man for any end” (p. 487).
Dedication to truth and honesty seems to be
intimately related to humility. What irony that Shakespeare’s Polonius, the
rather officious, garrulous counselor to King Claudius, should advise his own
son, “This above all, --to thine ownself be true; and it must follow, as the night the
day, thou canst not then be false to any man” (Hamlet I, 3).
It is humility, being down-to-earth, that promotes
an honest assessment of oneself. The sincere recognition that we are not
perfect, that we may err, even sin, is healthy. Failure to acknowledge weakness
often leads to defense-oriented behavior, those mechanisms we use to prop up
our pride and defend our ego.
Instead of an honest admission to self, we may
resort to rationalization (searching for reasons to justify a decision or an
act), projection (blaming others), compensation (downplaying our weaknesses and
focusing on our strengths), denial of reality (refusal to face facts), and
other commonly used defense mechanisms.
Those in the Judaeo-Christian tradition are expected
to be truthful.
It’s odd that Old Testament Hebrew does not have an
exact word for true or truth but conveys the idea with the word emeth which can be rendered stability,
firmness, reliability, faithfulness. Bible scholar Father John McKenzie explains
the Hebrew mentality, “The true is not merely an object of intellectual assent,
but something which demands a personal commitment. In a sense one can be said
to choose or accept the truth rather than assent to it. The lie on the contrary
is not solidly real, and therefore not dependable.” Truth is an objective reality to be embraced.
The New Testament Greek uses alētheia for truth, from an adjective meaning “unconcealed,
manifest.” John uses this term in 8:31-32, “Jesus then said to those Jews who
believed in him ‘If you remain in my word, you will truly (alēthōs) be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the
truth (alētheia) will set you free.” The freedom he offers
removes the constraints of a misguided life, clarifying life’s purpose and
meaning.
If religion supports the search for and embrace of
truth and honesty, so does an analysis of what makes a human homo sapiens, thinking man. Humanity is
characterized by two spiritual powers: intellect and will. With the intellect
we know; with the will we choose. By nature the intellect is oriented toward truth, and the will is oriented toward
good. Such natural orientation, however, does not preclude telling lies and
doing evil. Humans are so free that they can violate their own integrity and
work against their very selves.
The God-given orientation to truth and good is not a
pass. A human being must search out truth and discern what is good. It is often
a struggle, weighing contradictory options, overcoming thoughtless emotional
responses, confronting weakness, and wrestling with the defense mechanisms we
can resort to when the ego is challenged.
An opinion is not what one feels nor what one wishes
to be the truth. An opinion is the result of responsibly seeking truth.
Many of our religious and political clashes are the result
of the failure to pursue the truth. It is easier to hold on to past
persuasions/convictions or party lines than to dare an authentic search for
truth and good. A great deal of what passes for “opinion” on radio/TV talk
shows is not opinion but prejudice. Many of the experts have not responsibly
searched for the truth. Failure to opine leads to fake news.
Our searches may not always lead to common answers,
but opinions without the search are irresponsible. Pope Francis urges us to
accept the challenge of the intersection of opposite (not contradictory) opinions.
He believes such an effort is the only way to arrive at truth and unity.
Early on the Church had to wrestle with whether Jesus
was divine or human. The failure of some Christians to bring the opposites
together led to heresies. The truth did not deny Jesus’ divinity or humanity;
it lay instead in the awesome mystery of “God-made-man.”
The prophet Micah (cf 8:6) told the people that
there were three things Yahweh wanted from them: to do what is right, to love
what is good, and to walk humbly in His presence. These three responses to life
are the supreme qualities of a life well-lived.
Opinions require work; it’s hard to be honest.
