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Honesty is pretty high up on the “essential” ingredient list of living in a civilized society. It is one of the core teachings of philosophies, religions and wisdom traditions. Yet we do not need to study The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali to learn about its value in spiritual evolution. We also need not follow a specific religious or philosophical path to understand its role in cultivating harmony. Honesty is a star quality upheld (or not) by many characters in children’s books. We (and our children) can walk into bookstores or libraries and likely choose from countless stories to check in with the teachings, practices and value of being honest.
One of my go-to books on the subject is Dr. Seuss’s And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. Although Dr. Seuss makes dishonesty seem creative, he favors honesty in the end. I just love a creative proponent of the truth!
So what does it mean to be honest?
It always seems easiest for me to explain honesty to children when we first discuss how it feels to be dishonest. Most of us (including children) are aware of that gut feeling that points us in the direction of speaking and acting from a truthful and mindful place. We know the feeling of a lie; it’s that feeling in which we need to talk ourselves in to believing the statement is true or justified before we can say it.
Who’s talking to us? Our ego. Sure we need it in certain situations. And it can sound wise at times. It can even drown out the gut when the two disagree.
But our gut is wise. It guides us from a place of awareness and mindfulness. It’s the source of those times when we just knew what to say or do without thinking about it. And what we said or did was mindful, honest and kind.
Whether we’re 5 or 95, our ego guides us via thought. Those thoughts can take many forms, including comparison and doubt, and encourage us to prove or protect ourselves with deceit, trickery, exaggeration and even selfishness. Ego places a higher priority on self-preservation than honesty. And it tends to do it well if left unchecked.
Dr. Seuss’s character, Marco, is apt to exaggerate. For a young guy, he has a strong interest in being “the best.” Headed home from school, he sees a horse drawing a wagon on Mulberry Street. But that just won’t do for Marco. That cannot be all he reports from his journey. So he spins a tale. He starts small, just adding one lie…a zebra pulled the cart. He feels fairly confident no one can top that story. But then the cart seems ordinary in comparison, so Marco replaces the cart with a blue and gold chariot driven by a charioteer…and the whole experience sounds like thunder (of course!). Then the zebra seems too small for such a grand vehicle, so he “upgrades” the animal. Marco continues to embellish until he thinks he’s crafted a tale that no one can beat. He’s feeling great. He rushes home to tell his story.
But after all his thinking to craft the “best” tale, Marco sees his father, who previously advised him against tale spinning. At home in that moment, he cannot share…anything beyond the truth.
I’m impressed that Marco caught himself before sharing false information in order to feel better than others. Our egos are strong-willed and the thoughts they generate can seem so creative at times that they tug on us to share them.
But Dr. Seuss has highlighted that no matter how hooked we get by the creativity of our ego, we can always turn off that path and pick up the honest route. It’s always at our disposal. It may take reminding ourselves and our children, as it did for Marco, before we stop spending so much time guided by our ego, trying to be better than others. But Dr. Seuss echos wisdom traditions, religions, and philosophies that note that we have the capacity to just be honest; we have the gut feeling to guide us. Even when the ego shouts or gets colorful, all honesty asks is that we listen to our gut more than our ego.
Sometimes, I wonder if Dr. Seuss, when sitting to write And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, his very first children’s book, pondered, “If I only get to do this once, what is THE message I want children (and adults) to experience?” In my opinion, he chose his subject matter well. May we all remain creative, honor our gut feelings, and always find ease with being honest.
I recommend this book for ages 5 and up.
Themes: honesty, exaggeration, imagination, ego
Themes for Yoga Teachers: satya, manipura
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
