It's interesting, isn't it, how many of us want this without being able to say clearly what "truth" is. As folk musicians, I think we have ears better tuned to hearing what is true than many people in the world today, because we hear more of it than most. And I don't mean things like "They're cutting down all our trees" tho it may be true. I mean personal things like "my music is in your hands".
Pause a minute before I answer someone and look at myself to see why I want to say what I want to say. Am I showing off? Do I want to fix them because I am uncomfortable with their pain? Does it cause me guilt? Does it satisfy me to correct someone (like we all learned in school)? Do I say something flattering because I want them to like me? Do I want to impress them? Do I want to hurt them? Am I trying to control them? Make them angry?

To do this, I have to know myself, and to know myself I have to get past being who I think I should be. I have to be able to see myself. Then I can see the other person For something I say to be true, it must come from both my head and heart. And I have to be in the present, not responding to something from my past. This doesn't mean it has to be nice. It can be something like "I don't enjoy listening to you complain." Or "That is bullshit." Nor does it have to be something critical.
Amos, I really like what you have brought to Mudcat when you added yourself to the mix.

How many people listen to what the other person is saying before responding?

I think we want to say and hear what is true, because it is what makes community, and intimacy. It means we really know each other, and only when you are really seen can you be loved, respected, appreciated. Otherwise the facade gets the recognition, not the self.

The Quakers say "answer to that of God in every one" or "speak to the Light".

Blessings,
Barbara