GOSSIP Revisited

I originally posted this topic on 2 September 2009 under the Title: Gossip.

I re-post it today as a reminder that, more often than not, what we say in gossip to our friends and neighbors does permanent harm to everyone concerned.

Gossip is manipulation.
Gossiping damages and halts  your progress and growth.
It can even end your inner work permanently.

Repairing this error is extremely difficult and many do not make it.

Worse yet, this lack of spiritual self control on your part also seriously damages the possibilities for the awakening of those you are gossiping to if they believe  your gossip.

Even if they do not - you have planted negative seeds, which feed their own stories and fears - making their journeys more difficult.

You alienate them from what could save them.

This is especially true when these people are just beginning to know for themselves that they sincerely wish for something higher.

Nothing created in negativity produces anything useful - except very hard lessons (if you can See and Hear) in what comes from intentionally directed negativity for your own selfish ends.


You banish yourself and your listener(s) to illusion.

You are stealing their opportunities to enter into a true spiritual realm of study.

... and giving in to your ego impulses to gossip takes from you what you have worked so hard to earn.

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From the Movie: Doubt  

After being accused of heinous acts, a priest, Father Brendan Flynn, tells the following story to his congregation:

"A man was gossiping with a friend about a man he hardly knew." Father Flynn looks into the eyes of the congregation sitting before him as he speaks, his intense gaze lingering on the faces of his two accusers. "I know none of you have ever done this." People squirm in their seats.

 Father Flynn continues: "That night he had a dream. A great hand appeared over him and pointed a finger down at him. He was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day he went to confession. He got the old parish priest and told him the whole thing."

"Is gossiping a sin?" he asked the old man. "Was that the hand of Almighty God pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution Father? Father, tell me, have I done something wrong?"

"Yes!", the old priest answered. "Yes! You ignorantly badly brought up man! You've born false witness against your neighbor! You played fast and loose with [her] reputation and you should be heartily ashamed!"


"The man said he was sorry and asked forgiveness."

"Not so fast," said the old priest. "I want you to go home, take a pillow off your bed, take it up to the roof, cut it open with a knife and return here to me."

"So, the man went home, took a pillow off his bed, got a knife from the kitchen, took them up to the roof, and stabbed and cut the pillow open. Then he went back to the priest and told him he'd done what he asked."

"Did you gut the pillow with a knife?" the old priest asked."

"Yes, Father."

"And what was the result?" he asked."

"Feathers." he replied."

"Feathers." the priest repeated nodding his head up and down, yes"

"Feathers everywhere, Father." the man said, not yet getting the point."

The priest then told him: " Now, I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind."

"Well," said the man, "it can't be done, I don't know where they went. They flew all over"

"And that," said the priest, "is GOSSIP!!"
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If you can take this story into your heart with the appropriate attitude, be you the one who gossips or the one who is "innocently" listening to the gossip, or both, live with it for awhile. You will come to truly understand what it means on a higher level through higher consciousness. If you do that sincerely and are honest with yourself before God, you will be freed from that which causes you to gossip. It is difficult, but the Freedom you earn is worth it in the end.

I once heard, when I was a very young gossip fiend, that gossip kills. As I delved deeper and deeper into inner work in the following years, I discovered it was a lawful truth. Gossip kills.

Know that I Love You,

BE At Peace

Do No more Harm to yourself or to others

EVERYTHING IS Sacred

BE

I AM

Three Things: Power, Gossip and Intolerance _ Response to a comment

Wiseacrings:

I apologize for the tardiness of my reply to your comment (below) dated 21 April 2009. I watched the film to be sure of my response to you.

You are right, "the story continues", stories always continue, even after the film is over, even after “the end”. …but let’s back up a bit. I examined the scenes that came after the priest gave the sermon on gossip. Neither nun questioned him about the veracity of the story.

It is also true that we can “weave morality" or anything else to our advantage. I think this and the damage that can be caused by deliberately practicing this form of lying, is the point of this film.

The "Mother Superior" was not attempting anything so unselfish as to help the Parish Priest to see his subjectivity as you think. It is established in the opening scenes that she wants absolute power over this church and had obviously been enjoying it for some time before the new priest arrived. What we are seeing play out is a power struggle. The old nun is intolerant of anything she perceives as being out of step with her personal belief system. She micromanages everyone and at every turn she makes sure to let everyone around her knows who is in charge. She wants everyone to obey her, even the parish priest. In her mind the only aim of all of the subordinate nuns and all the children in their relationship to her is supposed to be to agree with her, or to remain invisible in her sight or out of her hearing range. The parish priest is quite the opposite.

What the young nun actually asks the priest after the Gossip sermon is:

Sr. James: “Was your sermon directed at anyone in particular?”

Priest: "What do you think?”

Sr. James: “Is it true?”

Priest: “What?”

Sr. James: “You know what I’m asking.” (She is referring to the accusations of the older nun)

Priest: “No.”

She questions him further during this scene about the "evidence" she and the older nun gathered. He explains his motives for his behavior with the boy to her satisfaction. She no longer doubts him - at this point. That she believes the Priest then brings on a harangue at her from the "Mothe Superior" during which she attacks Sr. James for being "gullible" and "naive".  After this terrible attack, Sister James doubts her own ability to discern reality from fantasy and doubts not only the priest again when she sees him walking through the hall hugging the boy, but herself.

Thank you for your comments Wiseacrings, 

Peace to you.

Three Things: Power, Gossip and Intolerance

1) "Absolute power corrupts, absolutely."

(I don't remember who said it first, but it's worth remembering for oneself and repeating as a reminder to others.)

and

2) A story from the film "Doubt"

In the film, a priest is being hounded by a nun who imagines she knows something about him. After she accuses him of a heinous crime, he tells the following story as his next sermon to their congregation.

"A woman was gossiping with a friend about a man she hardly knew." The priest looks up at the congregation and says: " I know none of you have ever done this." and then he continues.

"That night she had a dream. A great hand appeared over her and pointed a finger down at her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession. She got the old parish priest and told him the whole thing. "Is gossiping a sin? she asked the old man. Was that the hand of Almighty God pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution, Father? Father, tell me, have I done something wrong?"

"Yes!", the priest answered. "Yes! You ignorantly badly brought up female! You've born false witness against your neighbor! You played fast and loose with his reputation and you should be heartily ashamed!"

The woman said she was sorry and asked forgiveness.

"Not so fast." said the priest. "I want you to go home, take a pillow off your bed, take it up to the roof, cut it open with a knife and return here to me."

So, the woman went home, took a pillow off her bed, got a knife from the kitchen, took them both up to the roof and stabbed and cut the pillow open. Then she went back to the priest and told him she'd done what he asked.

"Did you gut the pillow with a knife?" he asked.

"Yes, Father."

"And what was the result?" he asked.

"Feathers." she replied.

"Feathers." he repeated.

"Feathers everywhere, Father." she said.

The priest then told her: " Now, I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind."

Well," said the woman, "it can't be done, I don't know where they went. They flew all over"

"And that," said the priest, "is Gossip!"

Great film. It also speaks to

3) Intolerance