The writings of Alice Bailey say that speech is “a vehicle for love.” I love that thought.
Robert: Welcome. Inner sight is simply seeing that which is always present, but not yet fully recognized. You have within you the ability to see yourself and the world around you in a new way, with new eyes, so stay with us and together we’ll look at the world and ourselves with inner sight. Our topic for today is harmlessness and right speech. The main inspiration for the dialogue that you’ll hear on this show comes from the works of Alice Bailey. Alice Bailey wrote twenty-four volumes of literature and was the founder of the Lucis Trust organization. We’re going to begin with one of her thoughts taken from her literature: “The purpose of all speech is to clothe thought and thus make our thoughts available for others. Speech reveals, and right speech can unite, just as wrong speech can divide.” It seems that people are communicating more than ever today— internet, talk shows, and so on. Is that a good thing?
Sarah: It’s potentially a good thing. Whether it’s always used properly, I think, is debatable. Perhaps we should say people are expressing themselves more today. I don’t know whether they’re communicating, which implies that there is actually an exchange of energy and an exchange of ideas. A lot of the time on the internet and the talk shows, it seems people just want a platform to talk and to express themselves, and they’re not really listening. Listening is an essential aspect of speech: the ability to hear what another person is really saying and to respond to it. Like the opening quotation said, the purpose of speech is to “clothe thought,” to give it form and substance, and “make it available for others.” If we thought about our speech in that way, we’d realize that it’s something quite powerful that we put into the world every time we open our mouths. Speech reveals, but it also can conceal. It can veil and hide what you’re really thinking, but essentially it’s the use of energy for good or ill.
Dale: That’s right, it’s a very creative force and speech is probably the most spiritual manifestation in existence, but most of us are not aware of what’s happening when we speak. We’re using sound to convey our thoughts and our ideas and it depends on the motivation behind that sound that really makes a difference.
Sarah: The writings of Alice Bailey say that speech is “a vehicle for love.” I love that thought. It’s a vehicle for love. She wrote, “In the utilization of words justly chosen and spoken, lies the distribution of love, the force that preserves, strengthens, and stimulates.” And when you think of it in that way, it is a real energy that can contribute something or sustain someone or encourage or shore up their own strength when they might be faltering. So can silence do those things. Silence, rightly applied, can be extremely loving in expression. The sustaining power of silent love can be equally powerful as the spoken word. The great wisdom is in knowing when each is required, when it’s necessary to speak and what to say, and when it’s necessary to remain silent. Most of us have a hard time sorting those moments out.
Dale: And we need to be more aware, I think, of the energy that’s behind speech and the creative energy or the destructive aspect of energy that is behind our speech because as we know, critical speech can be very destructive and harmful to another person. And that’s something we’re really not too conscious of, I don’t think.
Sarah: Unless we experience destructive speech directed toward us and we get our feathers ruffled and our feelings hurt, then we realize all too well how hurtful, wrong speech is. It’s something that I think we learn by experiencing for ourselves. It’s as if the words that come out of our mouths—because they are headed away from us—don’t really register in our own experience and understanding. We have to be on the receiving end of speech to know and feel its power.
Dale: Yes, and we have to realize too that, as it says in the opening thought, that speech is “clothing ideas,” and those ideas stay with you. Whatever the idea is, it stays with you for as long as you energize it. It stays in your aura.
Sarah: Certainly, things that my mother told me when I was a very little girl have stayed in my brain. Is that what you mean? I was very responsive to what she told me.
Dale: Well, yes, and it goes back to the idea of critical speech or criticism, which can build up in your aura, in your being and it stays with you and it begins to radiate from you or from that person.
Sarah: It’s not enough to just refuse to speak inappropriately. I think you also have to correct it on the level of the thought that lies behind it. What was that Greek myth about someone who had bad thoughts and he wanted to say bad critical mean things so he dug a hole in the earth and he spoke his hurtful words into the earth and then covered it up and he thought that took care of his impulse to speak wrongly? But in fact, it poisoned the earth and nothing would grow there. Did I make that up or is that a real myth?
Robert: It sounds good. (laughter)
Sarah: Nothing would grow on that spot.
Dale: Well, that’s right. I mean, you bury it within your own substance of your own consciousness and nothing good will grow there in your consciousness except more of the same. It attracts more of the same and that’s why we should guard our thoughts and our words with care, otherwise we’ll end up like that poor unfortunate person.
Sarah: When we think about the fact that we are known by our speech, we’re known to others by the kind of speech, the kind of things we say, the ideas and thoughts we express, and that we’re also known by our reticence, by the moments when we choose to remain silent. This is how other people view us and judge us: by what we say and by what we don’t say. We’re judged by the quality of our conversation day in and day out, and we also judge others by the kinds of things they say and don’t say. When you realize that, it’s apparent that speech is a tremendous force for good or ill, but It’s not just on a personal level, it’s on a national and international level. For example, calling a nation the “great Satan,” or calling a nation and a whole people the “evil empire,” or the “axis of evil.” These are terms that have a shelf life that seems to just endure forever and are very hurtful. Now some people are saying terrible things about the French. For goodness sake, they’re our neighbors and brothers, and we talk about them not so jokingly as if they’re our enemies. It’s crazy!
Dale: That’s right, and I think if people are more aware of what they are building in their consciousness, or tearing down, that maybe they’d be more conscious of their speech.
Sarah: One of the things that I think is especially important to learn as one becomes an adult is to not speak or write when one is upset or angry. It’s really dangerous to put your thoughts on paper or in words when you’re upset with someone. Wait until you’re calm and more reasonable before you express your viewpoint. So much ill-will and hurtful experience could be alleviated if people would just wait and calm down before they speak their mind. They run to their computer or to the telephone and express themselves and the damage is done. So, there’s a lot of discipline and self-awareness required to practice right speech.
Robert: The books of Alice Bailey talk a lot about harmlessness. How is that defined?
Sarah: Harmlessness in her writings is not what one might think it is, which is negativity or a kind of a passive, inactive, meek and mild stance. That’s not harmlessness. Harmlessness is “perfect poise,” she says. It’s the “completed point of view,” which I think is a profound thought. Harmlessness is the completed point of view. I suppose, in part, that implies it’s the ability or the capacity to see all sides of an issue and to identify with the many points of view that surround a particular question.
Dale: Yes, the harmless person is one who is taking into account the other, whether it’s another person or another group or whatever, and it’s looking outward and addressing the needs of that other group and understanding where that other person is coming from.
Sarah: There’s a wonderful ancient rule from the Ageless Wisdom that blends the need for both harmlessness and right speech. It says, “Enter thy brother’s heart and see his woe, then speak.” And that’s behind what you were saying, the ability to see into another person’s consciousness, or at least try to see things from their perspective, to walk that mile in his moccasins, and then speak. Most of us probably speak and do harm because we are expressing ourselves only from our particular isolated personal point of view and without considering that another person might view the same situation quite differently.
Dale: Harmlessness, as it says, “prepares the way for the inflow of life.” It dissipates obstructions to the free-flowing output of love and it’s the key, really, to the release of the lower nature and the grip of the world of illusions. So, it’s a very powerful phenomenon using this idea of harmlessness because it removes so much of the obstructions that block the flow of love, essentially.
Robert: Do you have any more to say about the topic of harmlessness?
Sarah: Yes, I think coming back to a point that was made a while ago, it’s important that people not think that to be harmless you have to be absolutely passive, mute, smile benignly, and nod. It’s not that. One can practice harmlessness and still be decisive and even bold in action. It doesn’t mean that you just accept evil and do nothing about it. But I think the conditioning energy behind harmlessness is goodwill. The real incentive of whatever one says or does is goodwill towards all. And when that is the mobilizing energy that drives one’s thinking and speech and action, then you can take action, you can take a position, but it isn’t going to lead to separation or to real harm. It might ruffle feathers momentarily, but the outcome will be good because the motivation is the good of all concerned.
Dale: Right. It’s more of a state of mind that motivates the person and, for example, even a parent that is very strong in guiding their children. They can tell the children they shouldn’t do this and they shouldn’t do that, and the children can get very upset and start carrying on, but the parent is harmless in his motivation there because he doesn’t want the child to come to harm. And it’s really in trying to help that child to avoid harmful situations that he exercises harmlessness.
Sarah: I think one of the classic examples of the struggle to be harmless is in the Bhagavad Gita, the great Hindu text, that centers around the struggle of the disciple called Arjuna, who was observing a great battle that took place on the plains of India eons ago. And as I recall, the battle involved members of his family on both sides in opposing camps. He didn’t know who to side with because he identified with both sides and he wanted to just sit the battle out, sit on the fence and observe, but not take action, not take a position. And Krishna the soul aspect, insisted that he take a stand, that he get involved and act. And so, harmlessness does not mean that you stay out of the fray, that you refuse to engage in life, that you refuse to take a position. That’s passivity. But harmlessness is action undertaken for clear and conscious and correct principles and then acting boldly and abundantly. As the Bhagavad Gita says, when he gave the reins of his decision, the authority for his decision over to the soul, he realized what right action he had to take. He was able to see that all forms constitute the one form, the one soul, and the battle then was over. The soul was in complete control and there was no sense of separateness in his action. So, I think that’s a classic discussion of what true spiritual harmlessness is. Much of India’s religious literature seems to deal with the theme of harmlessness. There are the Jains, J-A-I-N-S, who are a particular religious group in India that practice harmlessness as their main guiding principle. In fact, aren’t those the people that wear a mask over their faces so they won’t swallow a bug? That’s carrying harmlessness to a degree that I haven’t aspired to. (laughter)
Robert: It’s harmlessness to a fault, I would say.
Sarah: But it is something within the Indian culture, apparently, that’s a very high value: harmlessness. It’s fascinating to ponder on. Basically, I think it comes down to thought. If we want to lead lives that are harmless, we have to watch what our thoughts are doing, because everything originates from what we think. And if we want to be harmless, we have to nip certain lines of thought right in the bud, not give them a chance to even begin to develop, not entertain certain lines of thought.
Dale: Yeah, because harmfulness is really based on selfishness or on an egocentric attitude.
Sarah: Self-serving.
Dale: Yeah, it demonstrates as a force concentrated for self-enforcement or self-aggrandizement or self-gratification. So, harmlessness lets go of that little ego and enables the energy of love to flow—love and understanding—because harmlessness springs from a more true depth of understanding and control of the thought processes by the forces of the soul.
Sarah: There’s also an aspect to this that—when we are watchful of what we think, aware of the tendency and train of our thought—gradually we build in a new and higher rhythm. I think the writings of Alice Bailey say it takes about three years—I’m not sure—but as we train and discipline our thinking and inhibit certain lines of thought, gradually the quality of the thinking becomes focused on new and more spiritual and inclusive and loving attitudes and ideas and old habits of thought, old tendencies to be negative and critical and sometimes mean-spirited are eliminated and they’re ejected from the consciousness. I think that really is how it works. We replace a lesser quality with a greater quality. In other words, we don’t obsess constantly on the fact that, “I am harmful,” “I’m thinking mean thoughts,” “I’m terrible,” “I’m a bad person.” No, instead we focus on being loving, being inclusive, being understanding, being tolerant, being patient. And that, as Martin Luther King said, is the “expulsive power of love.” It expels all that is not loving, and that’s how we become harmless.
Dale: It’s bringing through that soul quality and releasing oneself from the inhibiting factor of the little self, the little ego, the egotism, and it’s letting go of all of that. That’s one of the things that the Buddha emphasized so much in his life was to rid oneself of all of those barriers that stand in the way to enlightenment and all of these barriers that simply bring more suffering. And as long as there is suffering in the individual, in his life experience, then he won’t achieve that enlightenment.
Sarah: And he was able to identify that the personal self, the desire to shore up and strengthen the personal individual self at the expense of all others is what causes our suffering. So, harmlessness is actually liberating and joy-producing. And if people want to begin to cultivate that quality, there’s actually an Evening Review given in the books of Alice Bailey that one can work with over a period of time. We’re told that we should study the effects we produce in the world around us, in the reactions that we receive from other people, in the thoughts and responses we receive, because these are reflecting back to us what we are expressing. If we regularly encounter unpleasant and harmful responses from others, we have to look to ourselves to see what we might be expressing that evokes that response. And so gradually, as we study this effect, we learn to discipline our moods and our expression to make them more benign and harmless. But specifically, there is an Evening Review on harmlessness.
Dale: Yes, there are three levels or three parts to this review work. The first one is harmlessness in thought, and this will primarily result in the control of speech. And what is the second one?
Sarah: Harmlessness in emotional reaction. That’s the means by which we become a channel for the love of the soul, controlling our emotional reactions and rendering them more harmless. And of course, action is the third.
Dale: Harmlessness in action: when your actions are harmless this will produce poise and skill in action and the release of the creative will.
Robert: You’ve been listening to Inner Sight. Now we would like to close with a world prayer called the Great Invocation. It’s a call for light and love and goodwill to flow into the world and into our hearts. Let’s listen for a moment to these powerful words.
Sarah: Closes the program by reciting the adapted version of the Great Invocation.
(This is an edited transcript of a recorded radio program called “Inner Sight.” This conversation was recorded between the host, Robert Anderson, and the then President and Vice-President of Lucis Trust, Sarah and Dale McKechnie.)
(Transcribed and edited by Carla McLeod)
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