Sothfastness
truthfulness; fidelity to what is real
Sothfastness is a promise kept with oneself. That you will not trade what you know for what you are told; that you will keep faith with the world, even when it is inconvenient or lonely to do so.
In times when reality is dressed up as preference, sothfastness keeps its ear to the ground feeling for the true weight of things.
It is the art of not being moved too easily. When public language grows brittle and certain, sothfastness is the inner steadiness that keeps a democracy breathing. Not by shouting, but by refusing to assent to what is plainly not true.
Sothfastness
adj., truthfulness, fidelity to what is real; firm or fixed
The King asserts:
My night sky is the biggest
and most beautiful - it has more stars than
you can believe.
Under your previous King
the sky was only paper,
with pathetic holes
poked through for light.
—
But beyond the hall
constellations move,
living bodies
with pulse.
Shine smears like torchlight
dragged over black water.
Slow galaxies grinding vowels
too wide for any mouth.
Sothfastness: courage to speak
when the rope gets tight;
discipline to remember
your lamp is not the moon.
Sothfastness. (adj., from Middle English. Fidelity to what is real; keeping faith; steadfast or steady under challenge)
The term appears in Middle English, especially Chaucer, Piers Plowman, and religious texts. It fell out of use in English in the 16th century, replaced by truthfulness, constancy, fidelity. But none of these carry the same combined weight. It is specifically about being steadfast in truth, noy just honest or constant, but both at once.