On Creative Silence, Speech is at best an honest lie
Chapter 12
Naronda: When the three days were spent the Seven, as if by some
irresistible command, gathered themselves together and made for the Aerie. The master greeted us as one fully expecting
our coming.
MIRDAD: Once more I
welcome you my fledglings, to your nest. Speak out your thoughts and wishes to Mirdad.
Micayon: Our only thought and wish is to be near Mirdad so we can feel and hear his truth, perchance we shall become as shadow-less as he. His silence, howbeit, awes us all. Have we offended him in any way?
MIRDAD: Not to exile you from myself have I kept silent for three days; rather to draw you Silence, the same can never be offended, nor offend.
Micayon: Is to be silent better than to speak?
MIRDAD: Speech is at best an honest lie. While silence is at worst a naked verity. Abimar: shall we conclude that even Mirdad’s words, though honest, are but lies? MIRDAD: Aye, even Mirdad’s words are but lies to all whose I is not the same as Mirdad ‘s . till all your thoughts be quarried from one quarry, and all desires drawn of the selfsame well, your words though honest , shall be lies.
Micayon: Our only thought and wish is to be near Mirdad so we can feel and hear his truth, perchance we shall become as shadow-less as he. His silence, howbeit, awes us all. Have we offended him in any way?
MIRDAD: Not to exile you from myself have I kept silent for three days; rather to draw you Silence, the same can never be offended, nor offend.
Micayon: Is to be silent better than to speak?
MIRDAD: Speech is at best an honest lie. While silence is at worst a naked verity. Abimar: shall we conclude that even Mirdad’s words, though honest, are but lies? MIRDAD: Aye, even Mirdad’s words are but lies to all whose I is not the same as Mirdad ‘s . till all your thoughts be quarried from one quarry, and all desires drawn of the selfsame well, your words though honest , shall be lies.
When your I and mine are one, even as mine and God’s are one, We would dispense with words and perfectly commune in truthful Silence.
Because your I and mine are not the same, I am constrained to wage on you a war of words that I may vanquish you with your own weapons and lead you to my quarry and my well.
And only then shall you be able to go forth into the world and vanquish and subdue it even as I shall vanquish and subdue you. And only then shall you be fit to lead the world unto the silence of the Consciousness Supreme, unto the quarry of the Word, unto the well of Holy Understanding. Not till you be so vanquished by Mirdad shall you become in truth impregnable and mighty conquerors. Nor shall the world wash off the ignominy of its continuous defeat save when defeated by you.
So grid yourselves for battle. Furbish your shields and breastplates, and whet your swords and spear. Let Silence bet the drum and bear the standard too.
Bennoon: What manner of Silence is this that should be at once the drummer and the standard-bearer? MIRDAD: The silence I would usher you into is that interminable expanse wherein nonbeings passes into being, and being into non-being. It is that awesome void where every sound is born and hushed and every form is shaped and crushed; where every self is writ and unwrit; where nothing is but IT.
Except you cross that void and that expanse in silent contemplation, you shall not know how real is your being, how unreal the non-being. Nor shall you know how fast your reality is bound up with all Reality.
It is that Silence I would have you roam , that you may shed your old tight skin and move about unfettered, unrestrained.
It is there I would have you drive your cares and fears, your passions and desires, your envies and your lusts that you may see them vanish one by one and thus relieve your ears of their incessant cries, and spare your sides the pain of their sharp spurs.
It is there I would have you fling the bows and arrows of this world wherewith you hope to hunt contentment and joy, yet hunt in truth nothing but restlessness and sorrow.
It is there I would have you crawl out of the dark and stifling shall of self into the light and fee air of The Self.
This Silence I commend unto you and not a mere respite for your speech worn tongues. The fruitful silence of the Earth do I commend unto you, and not the fearful silence of the felon and knave.
The patient silence of the setting hen do I commend unto you, not the impatient crackling of her laying sister. The one sets on for one and twenty days and waits in silent confidence upon the Mystic Hand to bring about the miracle beneath her downy breast and wings. The other darts out of her coop and madly crackles on announcing her deliverance of an egg.
Beware of cackling virtue, my companions. As you muzzle your shame, so muzzle your honor too. For a cackling honor is worse than a silent dishonor; and clamorous virtue is worse than dumb iniquity.
Refrain from speaking much. Out of a thousand words uttered there may be one, and one only, that need in truth be uttered. The rest but cloud the mind, and stuff the ear, and irk the tongue, and blind the ear as well.
How hard, Oh, how hard it is to write the word that need in truth be written!
Bennoon: What of prayer, Master Mirdad? In praying we are made to say too many words and ask for far too many things. Yet seldom are we granted any of the things we ask for.
The book of Mirdad
THE STRANGE STORY OF A
MONASTERY WHICH WAS ONCE CALLED THE ARK
Published date: 1948
