385: All the True Vows

Underneath the necessary surface of our life - all the ways we accommodate, fit in, bend ourselves to take care of one another - there is another deeper current. Sometimes we might go years without attending to this flow, maybe encountering it again only right at the end of our lives. We keep on finding through our conversations and our work how much it matters in a life to attend to the flow, to discover what it is saying, to find out the unique kind of truth that we can make with our own lives, and to bring it to the surface so it can flow into the world and be of benefit. How might we do this? What does it take to do this? That's the topic of David Whyte's stirring poem that forms the source for this week, and the conversation which follows.

This week's Turning Towards Life is hosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Introduction and Context
03:10 Exploring David Whyte's Poem
06:25 Personal Reflections on Truth
10:41 The Importance of Realness
15:16 Discernment in Relationships
20:38 The Journey of Self-Discovery
25:13 Creating Spaces for Truth
27:57 Conclusion and Invitation

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Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Here's our source for this week:

All the True Vows

 All the true vows
 are secret vows
 the ones we speak out loud
 are the ones we break.
 There is only one life
 you can call your own
 and a thousand others
 you can call by any name you want.
 Hold to the truth you make
 every day with your own body,
 don’t turn your face away.
 Hold to your own truth
 at the center of the image
 you were born with.
 Those who do not understand
 their destiny will never understand
 the friends they have made
 nor the work they have chosen
 nor the one life that waits
 beyond all the others.
 By the lake in the wood
 in the shadows
 you can
 whisper that truth
 to the quiet reflection
 you see in the water.
 Whatever you hear from
 the water, remember,
 it wants you to carry
 the sound of its truth on your lips.
 Remember,
 in this place
 no one can hear you
 and out of the silence
 you can make a promise
 it will kill you to break,
 that way you’ll find
 what is real and what is not.
 I know what I am saying.
 Time almost forsook me
 and I looked again.
 Seeing my reflection
 I broke a promise
 and spoke
 for the first time
 after all these years
 in my own voice,
 before it was too late
 to turn my face again.

David Whyte, from The House of Belonging

Photo by Justin Wise