November’s Theme is Truth

Our November theme is Truth, chosen by our Buenos Aires chapter and illustrated by Sol Cotti.

Truth lies at the bottom of a well, winding from its source in the icepack of distant mountains. Truth tastes pristine, uncompromised by what would be profitable or convenient. Truth causes your body to hum like a tuning fork, resonating at the same frequency as the universe around you. “When you experience an undeniable truth,” writer and social worker Jessica Dore observes, “you will beg, borrow, and steal. You will rearrange your whole life, forsake everything, just to serve what is real.”

And yet the truth is fiercely contested when competing narratives collide. We forge our truth in a crucible, testing its strength through heat and hammering. Instead of smashing our convictions against one another like a particle accelerator, could we sort through the messy, contradicting facts from all around us, together? Can we wade through paradox, the dark tangle of it all, and make sense of the world?

We asked, where does the truth live for you? How do you verify what is true? What does it feel like when something rings true? Here’s what you shared:

🌗 Shades of Truth

I have a poem that defines how truth has shifted for me, called “Shadows.” I think truth is something that evolves with us, not something quite as concrete as I used to believe. — Katie Rouse, Raleigh, NC, USA

Painting from the Messy Art Project

Pamela Meyer says that on any given day we’re lied to from 10 to 200 times. None of us likes to be dishonest or being lied to, yet who hasn’t sent a text message saying “I’m on my way” when it wasn’t true? Why do we lie then? Why do those lies come out of our mouths at times without even noticing it?

I am going to ask you a tough question, so please take your time to answer and, if you like, journal about it: What is the lie you have been telling yourself over and over again that has become your truth?

It might come out of you as a burst, you might need to reflect on it or even forget about it before you can admit the TRUTH to yourself.

The lies we keep saying get stored in our bodies so deep that they become a bone, an organ that constantly requires new lies to be fed. Release them, free yourself, become lighter. — Fateme Banishoeib, the Universe. Originally published here.

I’ve been aware that today more than any other time in my life, leaders are struggling with the most basic questions of veracity. As a leadership coach, I’ve observed what we know often obscures what we don’t know. We confuse what we know with truth. By embracing what we know in balance with what we don’t know lends clarity and can often lead to moments of enlightenment.

The prompt made me think of one of the exercises I do with individual leaders and with teams to craft their moment of truth. I call the process “Ransom Poetry.” Think of it as a ransom note that can help define culture, clarify what is known by a leader or a team, uncover the unknowns, and it can be used to identify gaps or help leaders and teams "mind the gap” as they build strategy or growth plans. Here are my instructions to make your own ransom poetry. — Kelly Tweeddale, Bellevue, WA, USA

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” ‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭6‬ — Roman Albertini, Switzerland

Photo credit: Bora Öztunç

The Spiritual Master Guru Nanak said, “In each and every heart is the unseen and infinite Raam. When we kill our egos, only then will we unite with this invisible and infinite truth.” — Nilüfer Narayani, Bodrum, Turkiye

When I heard this line from Ted Lasso, it rang so true that I got a tattoo of a lightning bolt. “Tell the truth! You deserve lightning.” — Sydney Stern Miller, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

When I think of “truth” in the U.S. context, my attention is naturally drawn to the media and disinformation online. Former New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan’s Newsroom Confidential is great; come for the memoir, stay for the actions needed to rebuild media trust.

Simon Blackburn’s book Truth: A Guide introduces the idea of “truth” from various philosophical perspectives, which was clear and very helpful to me. What I didn’t like is that there is no answer… which contributed to my search for more ideas about truth (and led to this Oscar Wilde quote: “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”)

To end on something uplifting, I recommend Martha Beck’s Finding Your Own North Star. — Ann Blocker, Austin, Texas, USA