So, we seem to concur that silence is an honorable and sometimes kind choice.

And that some people use the thin disguise as honesty when they are really being hurtful.

And that hurting others in speaking unpleasant true things is "bad", at least sometimes more bad than using well-intended artifice.

We also seem to concur that we all know what it is to be hurt.

I am thinking about the original question , which was, "If we cold feel free to be totally honest, what kinds of things would we be honest about?" and it is clear that even if we felt free to do so, we would prefer not to blurt out critical thoughts or thoughts which would hurt.

I agree, but there are a number of things I would like to be totally honest about, which it is not totally comfortable to do, even though it would not be especially hurtful to others -- crossing the divide that LEJ so eloquently described between the inner and social worlds.

I can't help thinking that if we learned to integrate those two worlds with some ither method than walls, we could be better people individually and in groups. This seems to me to be one of thegreat things about the Cat -- the feeling that we evolve in that direction.

kat, and sPaw:

Since I also think this evolution toward a better destiny, through a refinement of how we manage our own awarenesses, may well be the reason we are on this planet, I think it would be orful to let the mission be disbanded because of the shrilling of a few lower life forms! :>)

A Sorry if this sounds extreme, but if there is any answer to the archetypal question, "Why are we here?" I think the answer must be along the lines of evolving our own destinies. So there I am, warts and all...

As I recall what you do when wounded in battle, if you can, is bind 'em up and keep going...