Honesty
Is not an excuse for saying whatever you like
September 3rd 2015
People say, ‘I am honest. I say what I think, especially to my friends’, and you can see that – they demolish everything in their path! Honesty is certainly a quality, but there is nothing to be particularly proud of in that kind of honesty. Have they even asked themselves, ‘Is my opinion right?’ No, why would they? They will tell you they are free to think as they please: freedom of thought is one of humanity’s great triumphs.
Yes, freedom of thought is a precious thing, but only if we really know what thought is. People so often call any kind of mental agitation about something they like or don’t like ‘thinking’! This is wrong: true thought is not linked to pleasure or displeasure. It doesn’t even start at the mental, intellectual level but on the causal plane; that is to say, it implies knowledge of the great cosmic laws. The first opinion that comes is not a thought. Many people claim to say what they think, but if they really thought they would keep quiet. Or they would only speak after they had asked themselves what their opinion was worth and what the consequences of expressing it would be.