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True speech. Truth is known by
practice. Only. Without sincerity, there

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can be no knowledge of truth,
and true speech is the beginning of all

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sincerity. Truth, in all its
native beauty and original simplicity, consists in

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abandoning and not doing all those things
which are untrue, and embracing in doing

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all those things which are true.
True speech is therefore one of the elementary

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beginnings in the life of truth.
Falsehood and all forms of deception, slander,

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and all forms of evil speaking,
these must be totally abandoned and abolished

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before the mind can receive even a
small degree of spiritual enlightenment. The lyre

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in slanderer is lost in darkness.
So deep is his darkness that he cannot

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distinguish between good and evil, And
he persuades himself that his lying in evil

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speaking are necessary in good, that
he is thereby protecting himself and other people.

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Let the would be student of higher
things look to himself and beware of

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self delusion. If he is given
to uttering words that deceive, or to

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speaking evil of others, If he
speaks an insincerity, envy, or malice,

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then he has not yet begun to
study higher things. He may be

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studying metaphysics or miracles, or psychic
phenomena or astral wonders. He may be

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studying how to commune with invisible beings, to travel invisibly during sleep, or

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to produce curious phenomena. He may
even study spirituality theoretically and as a mere

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book study. But if he is
a deceiver and a backbiter, the higher

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life is hidden from him. For
the higher things are these uprightness, sincerity,

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innocence, purity, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, humility, patience,

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pity, sympathy, self sacrifice,
joy, good will, love. And

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he who would study them, know
them, and make them his own,

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must practice them. There is no
other way. Lying and evil speaking belong

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to the lowest forms of spiritual ignorance, and there can be no such thing

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as spiritual enlightenment while they are practiced. Their parents are selfishness and hatred.

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Slander is akin to lying, but
it is even more subtle, as it

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is frequently associated with indignation, and
by assuming more successfully the appearance of truth,

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it ensnares many who would not tell
a deliberate falsehood. For there are

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two sides to slander. There is
the making of repeating of it, and

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there is the listening to it and
acting upon it. The slanderer would be

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powerless without a listener. Evil words
require an ear that is receptive to evil,

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in which they may fall before they
can flourish. Therefore, he who

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listens to a slanderer, who believes
it and allows himself to be influenced against

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the person whose character and reputation are
defamed, is in the same position as

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the one who framed or repeated the
evil report. The evil speaker is a

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positive slander. The evil listener is
a passive slander. The two are co

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operators in the propagation of evil.
Slander is a common vice and a dark

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and deadly one. An evil report
begins in ignorance and pursues its blind way

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and darkness. It generally takes its
rise in a misunderstanding. Someone feels that

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he or she has been badly treated
and filled with indignation and resentment, unburdens

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himself to his friends and others in
vehement language, exaggerating the enormity of the

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supposed offense, on account of the
feeling of injury by which he is possessed,

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listen to and sympathized with the listeners
without hearing the other person's version of

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what has taken place, And on
no other proof than the violent words of

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an angry man or woman, become
cold in their attitude towards the one spoken

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against, and repeat to others what
they have been told, And as such

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repetition is always more or less inaccurate. A distorted and altogether untrue report is

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soon passing from mouth to mouth.
It is because slander is such a common

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vice that it can work the suffering
and injury that it does. It is

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because so many not deliberate wrongdoers,
and unconscious of the nature of the evil

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into which they so easily fall,
are ready to allow themselves to be influenced

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against one whom they have hitherto regarded
as honorable, that an evil report can

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do its deadly work. Yet its
work is only amongst those who have not

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altogether acquired the virtue of true speech, the cause of which is a truth

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loving mind. When one who has
not entirely freed himself from repeating or believing

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an evil report about another hears of
an evil report about himself, his mind

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becomes a flame and burning resentment.
His sleep is broken, and his peace

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of mind is destroyed. He thinks
the cause of all his suffering is the

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other man and what the other man
has said about him, and is ignorant

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of the truth that the root and
cause of his suffering lies in his own

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readiness to believe in evil report about
another. The virtuous man, he who

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has attained to true speech, and
whose mind is sealed against even the appearance

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of evil speaking, cannot be injured
and disturbed by any evil reports concerning himself.

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And although his reputation may for a
time be stained in the minds of

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those who are prone to suggestions of
evil, his integrity remains untouched and his

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character unsoiled. For no one can
be stained by the evil deeds of another,

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but only by his own wrong doing. And so through all misrepresentation,

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misunderstanding, and contumely he is untroubled
and unrevengeful. His sleep is undisturbed,

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and his mind remains in peace.
True speech is the beginning of a pure,

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wise and well ordered life. If
one would attain to purity of life,

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if he would lessen the evil and
suffering of the world, let him

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abandon falsehood and slander and thought and
word, Let him avoid even the appearance

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of these things. For there are
no lies in slanders so deadly as those

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which are half truths. And let
him not be a participant in evil speaking

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by listening to it. Let him
also have compassion on the evil speaker,

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knowing how such a one is binding
himself to suffering and unrest. For no

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liar can know the bliss of truth. No slander can enter into the Kingdom

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of peace by the words which he
utters. Is a man's spiritual condition declared

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by these? Also is he finally
and infallibly adjudged. For as the Divine

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Master of the Christian world has declared, by thy words, shalt thou be

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justified, and by thy words shalt
thou be condemned,