When writing, can one ever be completely honest?

I can at least be earnest. But honest not a chance for me.

Well, depends what you mean. Is everything I say here going to be honest? Yes. No need to lie here. Am I going to tell you my every thought and action? No.

Same goes for a journal/diary. I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to include everything, but I if I lied, it would be beyond my conscious control; I would be completely honest and intimate (and have been). No one is reading your journal or diary, so why not be completely honest?

Please read the details too guys. Thanks.

Yes but it would likely be rather boring. Fiction adds spice!

In a journal/diary
Yes.
In a blog
I’m considering this facebook. I don’t blog. No.
Fluther
If I don’t feel comfortable being honest, I take the vague route.

Edit
I have a fear of being judged, so I don’t always find being honest about everything the best route. Especially when so many people can read it.

My answer above applies to all the options. I too often try to deceive myself so even a journal’s dishonest (and I do keep one). Though there is no chance that others will read it, it is almost certain that I will read it again eventually. That is like another self that I am lying to when I write in my journal.

And anyway as someone who writes frequently it is natural for me to consider an audience in the back of my mind (whether the audience is me or imaginary readers varies). Not to do so would result in boring or lazy prose.

I feel like writing in stream of consciousness is almost entirely honest.

Most folks don’t do that in their journals/diaries/etc. however.

I certainly try, in all of the situations you mentioned. I do allow myself to edit, though, and maybe that’s not entirely honest. In editing, I try to put what I’m writing in the best possible form (whether I succeed or not is another matter altogether.) Does that count as dishonesty?

What do you mean by complete honesty?

For me, that kind of honesty is about facing myself as objectively as possible. It means not being afraid of going anywhere. It means trying to penetrate the fog surrounding all my motives.

I try, but I don’t succeed. Since I don’t keep a diary, fluther is as close to that as I can get. But there are still many things I don’t talk about. I wish I could. I think it would be a relief. I’ve spent so much of my life hiding my shames. I still have many more to unveil. I don’t know if I ever will. And if I do, I’m not sure it will make a big difference.

I journaled pretty heavily for a year in a way that was mostly honest and probably mostly limited in that respect by my self awareness. The following year, I did a volunteer program with 25–30 other people and as part of one exercise left them out to be read. It’s hard to judge the outcome because I was kind of naive about some things, but I think overall it caused some to put their guard up more than they would have.

I’m honest here, but I would hate for someone I knew to find and follow my posts.

Sometimes, I’m compelled to be honest, like when I wrote a gushing and pornographic letter to a coworker who had given me months of sexual tension or when I e-mailed everyone I knew about my take on 9/11. Both efforts were punishing on the surface, but I still felt satisfied articulating those truths.

For better or worse, I think it’s more effective to cloak honest writing in a degree of abstract universalism. In my experience, people have a hard time fitting interpersonal relations and naked honesty in the same space.

I can, without any hesitation. It’s just how I am. I have this one poem that is so completely raw and unwavering about my life….it’s my favorite poem I’ve ever written and I cannot wait to some day publish it. It will certainly make people see me in a different light, but oh well.

Well to be perfectly honest, most of the time I have trouble being completely honest with myself so it is highly unlikely that I will be completely honest with anyone else.

This is often, but not always a subconscious decision, done without aforethought. It is a defense mechanism as much as anything else.

No, though we try, because our perceptions and recall is subjective. We aren’t capable, I believe, of seeing all the nuances of any given situation, especially outside of the moment.

@aprilsimnel So true!

I’m as honest as I can be. I do withhold more from sites like Fluther, but I dive pretty deep into my feelings in my personal online journal, lots of selfish feelings…people can read, but I’ve made it clear many times that it’s my journal I’m not accommodating anyone.

I don’t keep a diary & I don’t blog, as such, but when I post on here I AM honest. As far as the intimacy issue, I’ll only tell intimate things to people I know very well & those I trust. That narrows the list down considerably. I don’t bear my soul to many.

Yes..Sometimes..

Sure, I guess. My (relative) anonymity allows me a greater degree of freedom when talking about things.

Of course not. When writing (for example in an online forum) we should not hurt people’s feelings. Many Flutherites are very open-minded and mature, so if I know they can take it, I’m being more honest in a sense that I keep less what I think to myself. If it gets out of hand I rather back down.

When I’m invited for dinner somewhere and the hosts really made a great effort and I don’t like the meal I would never tell them. Of course my tone of voice would not convey that it was absolutely fantastic. That would be unfair.

Yes. I do it all the time.

To be HONEST does not be you have to be hurtful.

Sure, there are tons of places to share your innermost words/thoughts under whatever name you want. On fluther? There are things I may share with people via private message rather than in a post.

I’m super honest when I write in my diary. I talk about my life and every recent thing happening and stuff.:) I use a key to lock it and things so no one will ever see it and it’s very personal.