Talk is cheap

I've been having trouble coming up with something to write about. I've spoke of death, God, and the frustrations of trying to understand Kierkegaard, among other things. But what else is a major part of my art of living that I haven't spoken of yet? I find myself going back to Epictetus' "The Art of Living" to find a quote as a jumping off point. I come across one that I find myself thinking about almost every day: "Speak with good purpose." This is a concept that I was introduced to about two years ago in my Tibetan Buddhism class with Dr. Wilson. Central to living the Buddhist ideal life is to avoid idle chatter. On the surface it seems like such a simple and incidental piece of advice, but I consciously try to live this way from day to day. When it resurfaced in Epictetus and other Stoic ideals, spanning such an incredible length of time, I figured that it must have value.

Speaking with good purpose or avoiding idle chatter is another way of saying "think before you speak", something we've been told since grade school. It's a universal ideal and one that everyone hears but few live by. I see idle chatter everywhere I go: in the classroom, walking through campus, at crew practices...anywhere large groups of people get together you're going to find them talking about things that don't really matter. I'm not speaking of simple conversation, but instead things like gossip and talk that serves no other purpose than to make the person feel better about him or herself. Especially on the crew team, people love to gossip, speculate about what other people's intentions are, and get upset about things before they even happen. It almost seems as if it's in our nature as living, breathing beings to gossip and draw attention away from us, sometimes resulting in hurt feelings. This is why I try to avoid saying things that really don't serve a purpose.

By doing this I can keep my conscious clean. I don't have to worry about hurting anyone's feelings and I don't run the risk of creating unnecessary stress on others or myself. Think about it...what is the point of gossip anyway? I honestly don't see the purpose of it. Sure, I'm guilty of it from time to time but more often than not, I catch myself before I tell someone what someone else said about him or her. I didn't say it, so what purpose would it serve for me to repeat it? It seems like a sickness to me, that some people actually get off talking negatively about other people, or repeating negative things that one person said about another. Too much bad comes from this and literally no good whatsoever. It's a no-brainer.

So a big part of my art of living and not opening my mouth unless it serves a purpose. I find myself lowering my eyes and shaking my head in despair when I see people purposefully trying to cause trouble for someone else with words. Why? What do you hope to gain by such an action? When we stand back and look at our lives and the lives of those around us we see that idle chatter is an epidemic, which cannot be cured. Think of how much better the world would be if everyone ceased to gossip or spread rumors. Only then could we make some real progress toward eliminating the real problems of the world.