Truthfulness
Truthfulness is speaking the truth, sticking to the truth,
acting according to the truth, preaching the truth and, above all surrendering oneself
to the truth. It is, thought fro this point of view, what we should do.
Therefore, truthfulness, essentially, also entails what we should not do. But
there is a controversy over the “should” we are concerned with. That we should
be truthful is beyond doubt but the problem arises when what is truth is to be
defined. Normally, our values and perceptions of truth, largely, are governed
by religion. To most people, something is true only because religion declares
it to be true. This tendency has narrowed the scope of truth. Yet, there is the
objective truth that religions as well as philosophy have always pursued and
have been able to identify. Truthfulness, therefore, is to persistently pursue
these objective norms of behavior. Simply we can say that being truthful is
being constructive, useful, attractive and humble. In a word, truthfulness is
goodness.
