The Honesty Charter

We are the Honesty Movement, and we invite you to add your voice and join with us in making the world a more honest place-where differences and painful realities can be openly explored and learned from rather than denied, hidden, or avoided. At this point, we are an ever-growing network of thought leaders, activists, authors, seminar leaders, spiritual teachers, truth-seekers, networkers, and peacemakers who stand for honesty, transparency, deep listening, mutual learning, and mutual benefit in all our communications.

We believe that a healthy world depends on healthy communication processes. "The process" is our product. We also believe that consciousness evolves more rapidly in a world where: (1) everyone feels empowered to speak the truth of their own experience and has the awareness and skill to do this; and (2) people have the ability to listen openly to viewpoints that differ from their own. Our movement aims to make communication tools that foster such "truth skills" available to anyone with a sincere desire to live an authentic life.

We believe that honest communication about what's really going on is the cornerstone for any responsible, effective action-whether it be personal or political.

We believe that the current world situation demands greater participation by all of us to solve the mess we have gotten ourselves into. It's time to claim our authentic power and capacity for grass roots leadership instead of giving away our power to moneyed interests, corporate lobbyists, and ruling elites. It's time to discover the fun and growth that can come from meeting with others to create a world that works for everyone and every form of life.

We believe that social activism goes hand in hand with personal awareness work. When we become more deeply self-aware , we naturally feel an impulse to serve and participate in this world that we are part of. We feel called to take action on behalf of "the good of the whole." Likewise, as activists, we discover that our actions are effective only to the extent that they arise out of the truth of our authentic, aware experience.

We believe that the health of a human system depends on free-flowing feedback among and between all parts of that system-whether it be an individual, a couple, a family, a community group, an organization, a nation, or a planet. When information flows freely-without secrecy, defensiveness, or censorship-an organism or system has what it needs to correct the imbalances that lead to dysfunction, denial, and domination.

We believe that most humans in industrialized nations are alienated from Nature and out of touch with their true human needs, due to the experience of having been raised in a culture that rewards and values material success, avoidance of unpleasant feelings, looking good/attractive packaging, and feeling "in control." These values generally substitute for and overrule honesty, compassion, health, and love. Industrialized civilization comes with a set of premises and requirements that are anathema to the genuine needs of humans and other life forms. We have become consumers more than creators. We have been conditioned to follow the herd rather than to think and feel for ourselves. Becoming more honest is the antidote to this herd mentality.

We believe that honest communication in groups about what's going on and how we feel and think about it can helps us overcome our inertia and the tendency some of us have to deny the pain we feel about things like the fact that:

- So many beautiful and essential life forms and eco-systems are now extinct or seriously endangered.

- We have not developed more sustainable ways to feed the world's population, to house ourselves, to manage our racial, religious and political differences, to keep ourselves physically healthy, and to self-monitor how many babies we have.

- US representatives have been guilty of murder, torture, and genocide in the interest of corporate profits and military control.

Each of these problems has multiple causes, and we are committed to do more than just assign blame or to offer simplistic solutions. Once the denial is lifted, honest communication in groups can lead to effective, multi-faceted problem solving and action.

How we communicate-i.e. whether we are relatively conscious or relatively unconscious--makes all the difference in the effectiveness of what grows out of our communications. We "honesty pioneers" have developed many useful methods for "keeping it real." (e.g. Brad Blanton's "Noticing vs Thinking", Susan Campbell's "10 Truth Skills," Byron Katie's Inquiry Process, More University's "Withholds Process," David Issacs' and Juanita Brown's "Conversation Cafe.") The act of expressing ourselves authentically along with the sense of being listened to helps us be more present to "what is." When we are more present and aware, we tend to feel more empowered and less fearful.

We invite you to join the growing numbers in this movement to help make our world a safer, more compassionate, conscious, and responsible place. The first action to be taken, if you choose to join us, is to sign this Honesty Charter, adding your name and your own personal statement if you wish. Your statement can be anything about you, your personal commitment to honest communication, or what you are currently doing to further the cause of honesty in the world.

Our hope is to become more visible as a movement for positive change. This movement is linked to a world-wide movement to create a more just and sustainable world through grass-roots dialogue and democratic processes. As more and more people are drawn to honest self-expression and problem-solving about things that really matter, we will witness an awakening of human consciousness that brings into reality the familiar phrase, "the truth will set you free." We envision a world where people help each other become free from the conditioned fears and patterned ways of thinking that keep many of us feeling afraid to see what is really going on and feel powerless to do anything about it.

Values that support the Cause of Honesty

- We believe that Honesty is the cornerstone of any personal or cultural change because you must be honest about your current situation before you can hope to change it.

- We encourage communication that fosters mutual transparency and mutual influence, that is, a genuine interest in the other's viewpoint and a willingness to be open about one's own viewpoint-reflecting a willingness by both parties to be influenced by one another. Mutual influence means parties are open to and continually seeking new information rather than only attending to information that supports their present position. We believe that this sort of communication fosters trust, respect for differences and more creative and useable solutions to problems.

- We value communication that fosters the willingness to be surprised, stretched, and challenged over communication that seeks to control the outcome and/or stay within one's familiar comfort zone. We think this sort of communication fosters the ability to adapt to change, learn from experience, or to evolve.

- We value having agreed-upon mechanisms (in groups and relationships) for resolving conflicts and clearing the air. Most of us have been conditioned to avoid conflict (which often includes avoiding and mistrusting people whose views are very different from our own). We know that conflict can be a great source of co-creation.

- We believe that honesty about what you are feeling in the moment (which includes allowing yourself to feel it for a bit of time) leads to healing because it opens the way for feeling long-buried painful emotions that need to be attended to so they can be felt, completed, and healed, rather than determine every new present tense perspective in a skewed direction.

- The measure of valid information in a system is increased when we speak honestly in group settings where feedback is valued and encouraged.

- We value giving and receiving honest feedback rooted in one's actual experience vs feedback that is interpretive or judgmental. If you want to be a clear thinker and communicator, it is very important to know the difference between "what really happened" and "how your mind interprets what happened."

- We value speaking up about a perception or a feeling, in the interest of transparency--even if we fear this perception or feeling is off base. We have observed that when a feeling or thought is expressed, thus being given more attention or more "light," what seemed to be true is now seen more fully or with more perspective. It's like after we speak about something that was bothering us, it doesn't bother us the way it did before.

- Feedback is how people learn from experience. The better mechanisms groups have for giving and receiving feedback, and for clearing unfinished business, the faster that group or system will evolve.

- We believe that people and groups tell lies or keep secrets mainly in an attempt to manipulate the outcome of their communications-to avoid resistance, to avoid being found out, to avoid being seen as selfish, bad, or wrong. If a person or group's motives go against the interests of "the other," the motive to lie will be strong. Therefore, honesty and mutual benefit go hand in hand.

- We support the Earth Charter Principles.

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