Becoming aware of people's agendas

[StephenK]

@LastThursday certainly. What I am more pointing to is the fact that striving for self-honesty can sometimes have the effect that the honesty spreads over into our interactions with others -- and sometimes that honesty is not appreciated. I think it comes down to the fact that some personal insights may be liberating for you, since you've processed certain things, but incredibly painful for others (since they've not worked through whatever they need to work through.) This is perhaps why certain spiritual teachers can come across as rude or indifferent, because they do not understand the space that other people come from. Insight unfortunately tend to to be conveyed through the medium of words, and words have been known to start wars.   

[LastThursday]

But that is a still a problem of mind reading and its sister ability: empathy. The failure is that in being truly honest you are not necessarily empathising with the recipient. If the honesty doesn't fit with the mindset of the recipient, then this can cause misunderstanding and friction. 

This is why it's so difficult to be your authentic self rather than a people pleaser. But if you really are interested in helping others, then you have to take the middle ground and put some sugar in your medicine. Even better, only give the medicine to those that want it.

Edited July 3, 2019 by LastThursday
typo

[StephenK]

@LastThursday ?