“When the door of the steam bath is continually left open, the heat inside rapidly escapes through it; likewise the soul, in it’s desire to say many things, dissipates its remembrance of God through the door of speech, even though everything it says may be good.
“thereafter the intellect, through lacking appropriate ideas, pours out a welter of confused thoughts to anyone it meets, as it no longer has the Holy Spirit to keep its understanding free from fantasy. Ideas of value always shun verbosity, being foreign to confusion and fantasy. Timely silence then is precious, for it is nothing less than the mother of the wisest thoughts.” ~The Philokalia
I actually had a boss several years ago who would mildly scold me after a meeting if I didn’t speak during the meeting. It didn’t matter to him in the least that I had nothing to contribute. It didn’t matter that I was actually listening to what others were saying rather than just planning what I would say when it was my turn to crow. All that mattered to him is that I should speak up and say something, no matter how pointless, repetitive, or inane. Continue reading “Sharing Spiritual Knowledge”