Chel Avery

Truth has been a central concept to Quakers from the outset. Much of the very culture and belief system of Friends has fostered a practice of truth. The author has peeled back the layers of the human condition to explore the complexities. What is truth? Is it ever desirable to tell less than the whole truth or to lie? What about the white lie? When we avoid telling an unpleasant truth are we protecting another person or ourselves? The Quaker practices of waiting and of care with choosing words, grounded in love, guide us toward a high standard for truth that helps us grow toward wholeness.… (mehr)

Truth has been a central concept of Quakers from the outset. We have been regarded by others and ourselves as a people who emphasize truth telling, and much of the very culture and belief system of Friends has fostered a practice of truth. At first, telling the truth or not telling the truth might seem simple, but Chel Avery has peeled back the layers of the human condition to explore the complexities. What is truth? Is it ever desirable to tell less than the whole truth or to lie? What about the white lie? When we avoid telling an unpleasant truth are we protecting another person or ourselves? The Quaker practices of waiting and of care with choosing words grounded in love, guide us toward a high standard for truth that helps us grow toward wholeness. With a forward by Shirley Dodson and an editor's preface by Allison Levie.… (mehr)

This is a remarkable pamphlet, the fruit of Avery's deep and persistent concern to live with integrity, speaking and acting as truthfully as possible. As she shows, this is not at all a simple or clear-cut matter, but requires the considerable effort of sustained attention and care. Such integrity of course is part of the Quaker testimony to spiritual reality, formulated and lived by our early Quaker teachers and their serious descendants, to our own day. And it is a difficult challenge.
Avery lays out various parts of the challenge of being truthful, from discerning what the truth is to how we can find a way of telling the truth and avoiding deception. Truth is not just factual accuracy, but also authenticity, and beyond that the unified coherency of integrity. How is truth telling grounded in love? And in humility? In self-acceptance? Why must we examine our motives to discern our deceptions? When should we speak truth and when do we keep silence? How do we discern whether we really know what is the truth rather than just believe or wish something? The effort and care required become clearer and clearer to the reader. She says that every time she thinks she has clarity on the process of being truthful, she discovers a new obstacle.
Avery concludes with the guidance that she has found helpful to her in being more truthful, and she sums it up as humility. Veracity in our outward expressions requires veracity within and about ourselves --and vice versa. This pamphlet will raise consciousness about the challenge of integrity; the reader can also mine it for helpful nuggets of awareness and guidance.… (mehr)