The Virtue of Truthfulness
Truthfulness simply means being grounded in reality and upholding it. It means not lying. It also means expressing the facts as they are.
People who lie have the tendency to be greedy, fearful, weak, lazy, and worrisome. They are not courageous or patient enough to face the truth. They are not audacious enough to face unfavorable situations. By lying, they find an easy way out. But they harm themselves by lying, because they reinforce in their consciousness unwholesome mental elements, such as greed, hatred, delusion, sloth, torpor, and restlessness. The more people lie the more fearful, greedy, weak, lazy, and worrisome they become, which in turn leads them to lie again.
Lying is a vicious cycle. It’s important to break out of this cycle as soon as possible. Otherwise, it soon becomes a disease of consciousness.
Nothing else strains and disturbs the consciousness as much as lying does. Nothing else increases the chances of developing illusion, delusion, or ignorance more than lying does. People who lie fool themselves, because truth actually cannot be hidden. Therefore, lying must be abandoned completely by developing the virtue of truthfulness as follows.
· Doing what you say you will do
· Saying what you mean or intend
· Neither exaggerating nor understating facts, which means expressing facts as they are
· Not speaking cleverly or scholarly or vaguely to intentionally hide the truth
· Not speaking too much
· Speaking only the truth, and standing up for it at all times in all situations

In addition, the virtue of truthfulness can be developed through the practice of soul meditation as follows.
· Remaining mindful of every word of your speech
· Not reacting to the greedy, fearful, or unwholesome thoughts that generate the tendency of lying
· Giving wise attention to the impermanent and impersonal nature of such tendencies, and allowing them to subside in mind on their own before they gain enough strength to turn into the verbal action of lying
· Concentrating on upholding the truth unconditionally, at any cost

The consistent practicing of truthfulness makes us courageous, fearless, decisive, energetic, zestful, intuitive, and carefree. Truthfulness effectively boosts the energy we have available for action. Truthfulness is the fastest way to achieve perfection in our actions, and the easiest and surest way we can feel good about ourselves is to speak the truth. The quickest way to get rid of hatred, envy, avarice, worry, and doubt is to wholeheartedly embrace the truth. When we speak truthfully, we purify our communication. Also, we make many friends since we are perceived as trustworthy.
Developing the virtue of truthfulness is especially useful for those who are lazy, greedy, possessive, weak, and delusive in temperament.