Lately I’ve been pondering the idea of right speech as in Buddhism. I’m intrigued by Joseph Goldstein’s experiment:
http://people.tribe.net/nunsequitur/blog/aea858fc-eb46-4054-ad08-62abfdbbd735
I find that fascinating. I come from a family that always talks about those who aren’t there (which means we don’t ever talk about the present, or - heaven forbid - how we feel about each other). This involves a lot of judgment. I find it hard to break out of the habit, and I notice now that most people seem to like and even demand stories and talk about other people. I think it would be hard to remain a social being and not talk about others.
I also realize that part of right speech is connecting with others through speech and that means that I do need to talk with others, so cutting out 90% of my speech is out of the question! (I already talk very little.)
I’d like to find a middle way. An obvious possibility is to talk only positively about third parties, but that isn’t exactly balanced either.
