The Power of Silence



Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.

This famous and elegant quote by Wittgenstein was conceived as an end to the kind of senseless and irrefutable mystical concepts and metaphysical constructs which take up so much space in philosophy. Wittgenstein was perhaps the first to cut the Gordian knot and say: this is non–sense, I need not refute it, it has no meaning.

As an example: any discussion or debate about “God“ is an exercise in miscommunication. We have no objective access to anything which fits the label “God“ and nobody can define the term so we’re talking past each other.

God is vengeful, no, he’s not. How could this dispute ever be resolved. It can’t. Just be silent on mystical issues.

But, being silent sells no books.

A true Zen book consists of one, empty page.

If I had such a book, I imagine possibly, over a lifetime, probably with much correction and crossing out filling out some of the page with my learnings and hoping it may do someone else good.

But really, the book should be burned with my body.

What do I know about the world others inhabit?

Who am I to take or lessen their load? 

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