From: farrior@b4pphf5.bnr.ca (Robert Farrior) Subject: Re: Silence Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1993 12:12:56 GMT u1318@sparc10.cs.uiuc.edu, stokes richard leo writes: > Could someone please expound on their reasons for the power 'to be > Silent'? I have heard one reason only so far, and that is that when > you are silent about your works, you do not waste energy speaking of > them. It also occurs to me that perhaps others who aren't as > tolerant of your goals may attempt to thwart them. rich Not saying I agree totally with the idea I am about to explain, but I think at times it is applicable. This explanation is mostly mine, so it is probably flawed. Please try not to fall asleep. -------- Reasons for Silence 1) Self preservation - the coward's (or the wise one's) way It has been said to not give pearls unto swine or that which is Holy unto dogs, less they trample them underfoot and turn around and rend you. I find this as a wise statement for practicioners of the esoteric arts. It is not wise to go about and advertise your hobby to those who are not inclined to be open minded. It is a sure fired way to get burned. Being labeled as a lunatic, satanist, etc. can be damaging to your career, social life, relationships, and so on and so on... Therefore, it is often best to not discuss these things unless you do so with fellow travellers. Though, it may often be fun to get into a debate with a fundamentalist Christian or zealous Muslem (just to pick two at random). Unless you know the people, and even that cannot always protect you, it is best to not go into things too deeply. Some may call this cowardice, or even false faith. Maybe. Maybe the braver thing would be to stand up and proudly announce your beliefs. After all, this is no longer the dark ages. But, let's face it, tolerence is not an inherent human characteristic. The stake may not be chic anymore, but narrow minded people have modern ways to flame you. In the Fama Fraternitatis (or is is Confessio I confuse myself so easily :)) one of the rules of any Rosicrucian Order is to wear the garb of whatever society you live in. I take this to mean that we should not call attention to ourselves by appearing to be radically different than our peers, not just in the clothing that we wear, but in our actions and our words. 2) Magic Power of Silence (scoffing is allowed) (Let me preface this section with a caveat. This is highly subjective. It is my opinion, based upon my training. How well what is described works, or doesn't, is up to the individual. I believe all that follows is psychological, not magical in the sense that seems common in alt.magick. For me though, the line between psychology and magick is a fine one, but that is another thread.) Besides the minor aspect of protecting one's position in society, silence offers a more subtle benefit. It can act as a battery for storing energy. (perhaps capacitor is a better analogy) When we begin a magickal activity, we generate an amount of energy in that process. By informing others of the details of our work, we drain off this energy. The more we run our mouths, the more energy we drain off. Until, eventually, after talking about it too much, all of the energy is gone, and the act fails miserably. Here is a rather mundane example that should not get me in trouble. Say I decide that I want to lose weight. I put myself on a strict diet and increase my exercise level. I keep it to myself. I begin to see benefits. My weight starts to drop. But then, I brag to my wife, "I'm on a diet and just lost 2 pounds!" The next day, I go to work and tell my coworkers. "I'm on a diet! I bet I can lose twenty pounds. Gosh I'm awfully great!!" (They puke.) I go out to lunch and stuff my face. Before I know it, all of my ambition for losing weight is spent. I wasted all of that energy by talking about it instead of doing something about it. After a week, I drop the whole project and record another failure in my memory bank. Ok, so I over simplified the whole affair. But, regardless of whether I gave a terrible example, I hope the point is made. Some people may not have this problem. I don't think I did until somebody explained this to me. Or at least I never noticed it before that time. But, then, maybe that is why I have so many failure tick marks up there in mass storage. Seriously, every time I have ever really tried to gain something or succeed in something, I did best, and needed the least amount of personal effort, when I kept it to myself. Once I shot off my mouth about it, it was harder for me to overcome. I had to expend more energy to succeed, because I had to overcome the energy loss. It is kind of like flying in a head wind. You have to push the throttle harder to make progress. 3) I can't think of a 3, but wanted to put it here to demonstrate my open mind. Negative Side of Silence Well, I can't think of one. Except maybe people will think you're a snob. But that's their problem, not yours. But, see Silence versus Secrets below before you launch your hot little flames. (Gee, have I become gun shy, or what??? :) :) :) ) Silence versus Secrets There is a big difference between being silent on something and keeping secrets, in magick. Being silent, means not "spoiling" your work by talking about it. Keeping secrets means refusing to divulge information to others. Sometimes secrecy is necessary, (I know many will not agree, and I don't want to fight about it. Ok???) though I believe only rarely. What I see as negative secrecy is hording information that could be of benefit to others out of a misplaced sense of self power. To me that is not being silent. For me, silence relates to personal information only (should I use that absolute???). What I do is nobody's business but my own. The methods that I use are probably not my own, and therefore not subject to silence, but may be subject to secrecy. (Heh heh, nice bit of double talk there, eh??) If I use magick to lose weight (fun stuff) that is my business. Nobody would gain anything by knowing it. Talking about it only shows that I am trying to brag, and spoils the whole thing. But, telling people the method that I use to do it could be of benefit to others, so that they could utilize the method in their own way for their own ends. The first example needs silent, the second doesn't. ------- Bob hath spoken. You can wake up now. Fraternally yours in LVX, Bob Farrior -------------------------------------------------------------- The opinions expressed are solely my own unless I stole them. -------------------------------------------------------------- === From: jm_bilac@bruny.cc.utas.edu.au (Sol Draconis the Highlander) Date: 23 Oct 1993 03:04:16 GMT To Will, To Dare, To Know, To Keep Silent. Whosoever shall keep these and live as they live, shall know the Fifth. By the Fifth attribute shall the Adepts be known. Some will know of what i speak, most however wont have a clue. hehehe, John. [John is making a fool out of himself, but he states the ] [four magickal vows, which I thought should be included here.] [--Ceci]