by Tamarack Song
I wrote this book for one reason—to incite a revolution of the Heart. For too long we have been taught to say what others would like to hear, and what makes rational rather than relational sense. We have been encouraged to be assertive, but we have not learned how to listen. To tell the truth is our ideal, yet most of us tell dozens of lies every day.
A Zen koan encourages us to speak our Truths without punishing. In the coming pages, we will reacquaint ourselves with a way of life based on the gentle, clear, and heartfelt communication which the American Indian Elders I apprenticed to called Truthspeaking.
Notice that I said “reacquaint.” You and I already know Truthspeaking: we are genetically programmed to be spontaneous, in-the-now beings with astute expressive and listening skills. We evolved the ability as a matter of survival.
It is only since we have become urbanized that we have begun protecting ourselves by suppressing our thoughts and feelings—and defending ourselves from the thoughts and feelings of others. This book shows how to dissolve those boundaries, so that we can again say what we really mean and hear what people are really saying.
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