On silence...
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"To Keep Silent." It is such a resounding cautionary note in magickal work. Intuitively, it strikes a profoundly important one at that. But it is also one that I find myself at constant odds with as it goes against my general nature. Yes, I have a loose tongue. When I have a philosophical revelation, so to speak, it is my natural propulsion to share it with others. One reason is to get feedback to find fallacies in my reasoning. I am a scientist, so humility in the arena of reasoning is something that I am very comfortable with. But it is mostly because I feel them to be of high value to others in their spiritual evolution. Certainly we would get nowhere in human evolution if everyone kept everything to themselves and didn't donate anything to be masticated by the collective psyche.
I am interested in what others use as their criteria of what is opened to share, and what is best kept locked in behind the binds of the magickal diary.
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I personally don't think "Keep silent" means "Don't ever talk". Rather, "Keep silent" is one of the powers of the sphinx--when and how you use the power is up to you.
From my experience, sharing and discussing ideas with an appropriate audience is often useful, as you say. But things like trying to have a certain kind of conversation with an inappropriate audience, or broadcasting my goals and plans far in advance, hasn't ever worked out too well for me. I find there's a lot of magick and power in knowing when to not speak.
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I can relate to what you said - I too have a loose tongue, and enjoy blabbing about revelations. I personally believe that there are a few specific situations in which one shouldn't share anything:
- If it involves anything obligated. This one's obvious, though not really related to the kind of stuff you mentioned.
- If it involves something that is ongoing. I find myself sharing "unfinished" revelations too often - talking about changes and breakthroughs so much that I dilute their importance in my own psyche and lose the original thread. (Too much talking, not enough doing.) It's sort of like yanking a baby from the womb after only a few months - yes, it's there, but it's not done forming yet!
- If it involves something so deeply personal that it wouldn't necessarily even make sense to anyone else, or pertains only to oneself (i.e. not a universal truth).
- If the reason for sharing it is mostly or entirely bragging rights or self-aggrandizement. (I'm sure this will usually or always be a factor in something like that, but if it's the only reason, it's foolish.)
- In general - being silent about occult work trains the brain to isolate that stuff from material related to socialization.
Also, everything Av just said. (Hey Av! It's been a little while
)93, 93/93.
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"Hey Av! It's been a little while "
Hey
Yeah... guess I've been a little quieter than usual for the last couple months...
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Look at the Latin for the fourth power of the Sphinx:
Tacere= Tact, might be a literal translation, although 'keep silent' sounds more mysterious and foreboding, personally I would go with the literal translation and take it as an instruction to learn to be tactful, which is something that is useful in all walks of life.
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"When I have a philosophical revelation, so to speak, it is my natural propulsion to share it with others. One reason is to get feedback to find fallacies in my reasoning. I am a scientist, so humility in the arena of reasoning is something that I am very comfortable with. But it is mostly because I feel them to be of high value to others in their spiritual evolution. Certainly we would get nowhere in human evolution if everyone kept everything to themselves and didn't donate anything to be masticated by the collective psyche.
"Yeah, me too. Or at least, in the past.
That last line.... "masticated by the collective psyche".... for me, that's it right there.
I guess for me, it depends on whether I want to chew on it myself - over time - let it evolve, or whether I want/need the full artillery of the collective psyche to take shots at it for me. Once you put it out there and get everyone else thinking about it, well... you're connected to that... your mind is connected to those minds... and you pick up all the doubt and fear projections and baggage of the people you've shared it with. It can be like opening the door and throwing out the welcome mat for internal doubt and conflict.
If you're wanting that, then... that's one thing. But if something is very important to you, putting it out there in everyone else's mind can be a really destructive thing for something otherwise very meaningful and personal.
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@Solitarius said
"Look at the Latin for the fourth power of the Sphinx:
Tacere= Tact, might be a literal translation, although 'keep silent' sounds more mysterious and foreboding, personally I would go with the literal translation and take it as an instruction to learn to be tactful, which is something that is useful in all walks of life."
The word "tact" actually comes from the Latin *tangere *-- to touch.
If you want an English cognate derived from tacere, one example is "taciturn". -
Or simply "tacit."
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Not according to my dictionary, I have Tacere derived from the root Taceo, which means: 'not to speak' and is linked with words like Taciturn, Tacita (Roman Goddess of silence) and tacitum (a secret). the two words are close though.
I think Tact in the sense you mean it is more in the sense of tactile, which would come from Tactus and Tactio, and would in that case change the entire implication of the fourth power of the Sphinx!
Tacit is also a nice one, and I'm sure that with all this etymological hair splitting we could all use a lesson from that book -
Sounds like we're in agreement...
Tacit, taciturn, tacitum, Tacita -- all from tacere -- to keep silent
Tact, tactful, tactus, tactio -- all from tangere -- to touch
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@Avshalom Binyamin said
"Sounds like we're in agreement...
Tacit, taciturn, tacitum, Tacita -- all from tacere -- to keep silent
Tact, tactful, tactus, tactio -- all from tangere -- to touch"
That's interesting, because to my mind the usual meaning of Tactful places it along with Tacit, yet the etymology is as you say, I stand corrected.
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Tactful is about sensitivity - touching. But it isn't silent.
Something tacit is unspoken.
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Thank you all for the feedback on this question. It does seem to speak to the importance in timing and force. As a couple of you pointed out, being sure that the idea has incubated enough to be able to stand up against a respectable amount of scrutiny. Therefor, any changes to the original idea are deliberate and worthy. It is my experience that an idea that is spoken when it is still mushy may change form and intention so easily that its original plan is altered, perhaps without even the awareness of it's creator.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"Tactful is about sensitivity - touching. But it isn't silent.
Something tacit is unspoken."
That statement is particularly revealing for me.
I remember when I had an insight once, and spent the next several hours trying to share nit, and explaining it to my catholic father.
Though the revelation n was important for me to have, my father did not understand one bit what I was talking about, and our frustration mounted.
In fact that conversation did more damage then good, because he sincerely worried for my safety and sanity, and also because he did get some bits and pieces of the gist of my provendiancial moment, he went through a depression and days of self doubt.
I later learned from my teacher that some people cannot handle certain information, that they are not as she said " at that level " yet and it does them mor harm then good to blast out secrets and such....
It's like explaining sex to an eight year the intricacies of sexual intercourse and making babies, and then demonstrating it for them.....
So I think that this reference to tact and touch, and silent agreements, is that it is so important to attempt to understand you audience, and how the information is going to sit with in them.
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I think this reminds me of a quote that goes “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” -Matthew 7:6 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearls_before_swine
Sometimes “Silence can be golden” www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/silence-is-golden.html
Some understand the moment of silence as the moment before movement…A lot of people will postulate an idea and then be silent about it before presenting it…. This silence gives them another idea that helps the first idea.
Sometimes one cannot hear the echo unless there is silence.
@Ash said
"
- If it involves something that is ongoing. I find myself sharing "unfinished" revelations too often - talking about changes and breakthroughs so much that I dilute their importance in my own psyche and lose the original thread. (Too much talking, not enough doing.) It's sort of like yanking a baby from the womb after only a few months - yes, it's there, but it's not done forming yet! "
I sometimes have the same problem.. The problem is, I can never figure out whether it is fully formed and even though I have argued it to myself, once I present it, I will still find it in its infancy.
I think the key is that if you feel like presenting it then present it to someone that is undertaking the same training or has a better understanding (this site is one good place), that way they may be able to point you in a better direction.
I will let you know that I have learned to not share every thought… because you eventually start to sound crazy. Then there are some thoughts that people really don’t want to hear.
Personally I have kept a lot of my thoughts to myself about some subjects because they were way out on the end of the ladder and the ideas were only understood by me (yes I am crazy
) or were not easy to describe… -
I would say that this Power also and very importantly has something to do with the state of mind and body in which the reception of Illumination is possible: Silent and receptive.
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@HWNH said
""To Keep Silent." It is such a resounding cautionary note in magical work. Intuitively, it strikes a profoundly important one at that. But it is also one that I find myself at constant odds with as it goes against my general nature. Yes, I have a loose tongue. When I have a philosophical revelation, so to speak, it is my natural propulsion to share it with others. One reason is to get feedback to find fallacies in my reasoning. I am a scientist, so humility in the arena of reasoning is something that I am very comfortable with. But it is mostly because I feel them to be of high value to others in their spiritual evolution. Certainly we would get nowhere in human evolution if everyone kept everything to themselves and didn't donate anything to be masticated by the collective psyche.
I am interested in what others use as their criteria of what is opened to share, and what is best kept locked in behind the binds of the magical diary."
sometimes, to be silent can mean - simply to be there and observe (the flow of experience).
the main idea there is to silence your inner stream of thoughts. only one who can listen, can hear
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My personal favourite of Little Essays Toward Truth is the essay on Silence, which in my view is one of the best things that Crowley wrote.
I also find very interesting Crowley's Commentary on Blavatsky's The Voice of the Silence, which he regarded as her masterwork. It's all about detecting and being attuned to the silent self, Harpocrates, Hoor-paar-kraat, which of course is connected with the Holy Guardian Angel, the bringing to men and women the Knowledge and Conversation of which he regarded as his particular work.
His drawing 'The Way', which he placed as the frontispiece to his Commentary on The Voice of the Silence, is in my view a glyph or articulation of this Voice, hence its placement.
