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secret knowledge
- Thread starter Electra
- Start date
HonestJoe
Well-Known Member
I know the right answer but I’m not sure I should tell you.
Electra
Active Member
I know the right answer but I’m not sure I should tell you.
It could be dangerous....
hehe
Some people aren't worth the knowledge, as if they have it they use it to scheme and harm others. You deserve nothing, I deserve nothing, and we owe each other nothing. We share what we feel the other people are worth as a gift, but they are in no position to demand nor are they worth anything more.
Satanists face this dilemma constantly in terms of being persecuted by mainstream faiths. What advantage would I have to share such information with others in public? Certainly, I do not hide the fact I just don't advertise. I'd die in Satan's name quite willingly, so fear isn't the problem. It still doesn't stop those people from ruining your career opportunities or those of your family and the like -- there is very little profit to sharing that information even though it is the truth. It makes them focus on efforts that ultimately do not help them (they might actually need skills you can provide and they'd be better off cooperating with you) or you (you probably really need the money or whatever else that is traded).
I simply ask myself in every dilemma such as this, does the truth do more ultimate harm than good? If I am brutally honest at the expense of the feelings and thoughts of those around me just so that I can boost my ego about feeling as such it is my ego that is the problem of this equation. Thus, I recommend the same to you -- there is no need to be honest where such honesty harms all the parties involved. There is no need to feel guilty about keeping the peace in this manner, either. However, if it is a matter of defending ones personal beliefs... You have no beliefs if you will not bleed for them in the literal sense they are just ideas you fancy. Put that in perspective and act accordingly...
Rhetorical questions such as this are born broke; they are ill-conceived and almost never thought out.
Whether or not knowledge should be free for all is somewhat irrelevant given knowledge is not a physical object and tends to resist any human attempts at containment.
one man's trash is another man's treasure, pass it on.
"I have spoken openly to the world," Jesus replied. "I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret.
WalterTrull
Godfella
I am fascinated by the seemingly exponential advances in technology rendering the concept of privacy almost moot. Probably for the best. Shortly, secret knowledge will probably only be that if no one wants it .
Privacy is a rather separate issue though, don't you think?
WalterTrull
Godfella
Conceptually, perhaps. In practice, probably not.
I'm seeing a lot of differences in practice. Many privacy issues involve physical space, which is a different beast than ideas. As an example, I do not see it becoming legal to randomly barge into someone's house (a privacy violation). Nor do I see it becoming legal to steal that person's diary to get the knowledge contained within. You only get to steal people's diaries if that person is an idiot and puts it on the internet.
WalterTrull
Godfella
Current practice, perhaps. I foresee a time when physical space is not an impediment. Snooper technology flourishes. Against the law only means that the technology is limited to government and crooks. (Easily confused)I'm seeing a lot of differences in practice. Many privacy issues involve physical space, which is a different beast than ideas. As an example, I do not see it becoming legal to randomly barge into someone's house (a privacy violation). Nor do I see it becoming legal to steal that person's diary to get the knowledge contained within. You only get to steal people's diaries if that person is an idiot and puts it on the internet.
Half understood knowledge can be dangerous. Telling a child how to use a gun, or half understood evolutionary theory in the hand of racists.
...
Well, this conversation got seriously creepy.
WalterTrull
Godfella
I don't know how to respond other that "Embrace the creepy".
YmirGF
Bodhisattva in Recovery
By definition, secret knowledge should, in theory, remain secret. That said, I'm not big on secrets and my gut feeling is if someone is standing before me, the universe has placed them there for a reason. The difficulty is translating my perception into terms they can understand. Plus, there is always the possibility that they are there to teach me something.
Electra
Active Member
Just because you don't have an opinion doesn't make it rhetorical.
WalterTrull
Godfella
"How" is generally available. Getting the parts is something else.
GoodbyeDave
Well-Known Member
Since when has this question been rhetorical? There have been plenty of traditions which have argued for maintaining secrecy. That includes the Jewish cabala, although I never had any trouble finding documentation, from the Sefer Yetzirah to Moses Luzzatto. Of course, I might not have been getting real secrets…
My own religion is a prime case of secret knowledge. There were many secret mysteries, such as those of Eleusis, whose secrecy was so profound that we cannot revive them, unless the gods chose to re-establish them.