Discretion

"Discretion is the ability to hold Wisdom within yourself,

to hold an awareness within yourself without sharing it inappropriately."

"Ultimately, no one on the outside should know what is going on in your world, not even your allies or potential friends.

They will respect this discretion.

They will expect it,

and they will understand it."

"In serving others, you must always be willing to have nothing to say."

"Knowledge is your guide, for Knowledge will move you to speak to certain people and will remain silent with everyone else."

Directives

"Avoid talking too much. If you talk too much, you expend your energy and you disseminate your ideas mindlessly. Let Wisdom germinate within you. Do not go tell everyone about what is happening within you. Let the pressure build. Let your capacity grow. Let yourself digest the truth rather than try to pass it on to everyone. Let yourself experience the meaning and depth of the insights that come to you rather than rushing off to tell your friend, 'Oh, I had this insight. It was so wonderful!'"

"As you proceed, you will hear a great deal about spiritual experiences being described or discussed by others. Be discreet. Do not enter into these discussions. They are meaningless by and large. People who talk about these things do not know what they are talking about. Those who know have learned not to talk, except in rare situations to certain people."

"Knowledge will motivate you. If you want to say something to someone and you feel restraint, don’t say it."

Recommended Practice

"Discretion means you know what to say and when to say it. The rest of the time, you remain silent. You are not governed now by a need to express yourself to offset your sense of inadequacy or insecurity. You realize that your words have power and that they commit you, and so you want to use them carefully. You do not want to use deception, but you want to place your words well. Words are forces in and of themselves, and once they leave your lips, they travel beyond you. And you will be held accountable for them, particularly as you gain strength."

"With Wisdom you will know the right thing to say to the right person in the right place at the right time. Until you are with the right person in the right place at the right time, you remain silent and observant, without condemning yourself or anyone else."

Need for Discretion

"Any human mind can be interfered with, and its understanding can be extracted by those intervening forces in the world now. Therefore, you must understand the importance of discretion. That is why it is one of the three requirements for establishing and maintaining freedom in the universe: unity, self-sufficiency and discretion. You are only at the beginning of learning about the power of the mental environment. You are only beginning to learn how other races can gain access to human wisdom and understanding. You are only beginning to realize how much your freedom will have to be guarded and protected if it is to be sustained in a universe where freedom is rare."

See Also

Discernment

Further Study

• Greater Community Spirituality, Chapter 7: How Is Wisdom Achieved in Life?

• Wisdom from the Greater Community Volume Two, Chapter 7: Discretion