Friends,
Today, I invite you to sit with me in the quiet, clear light of inner reflection as we speak about a matter that is too often overlooked but has profound spiritual consequences: the use of our words—particularly in the forms of gossip and backbiting. These are not merely bad habits or minor lapses in judgment. No, they are deeply rooted spiritual transgressions, corrosive to the soul and disruptive to the sacred web of unity that binds all living beings.
Let’s not approach this with threats of damnation or divine retribution, as is the tendency in some of the world’s traditions. Instead, let us see that every word we speak vibrates into the world with powerful force; creative, or destructive. We will investigate the Christian viewpoint, yes, but we will also review several other faith traditions. In so doing we will find that gossip and backbiting are not tolerated in any spiritual tradition, as they are fundamentally incompatible with spirituality.
As it is written in the Biblical verse, Proverbs 18:21: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” The question, then, is this:
What kind of fruit are we planting with our words?
I. Christianity
In the Christian tradition, gossip and backbiting are repeatedly condemned. Not simply because they hurt others, but because they are acts of spiritual self-harm.
The Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 4:29, instructs: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up… that it may give grace to those who hear.” And in James 3:6, we are warned: “The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness… staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.”
But note this: the emphasis here is not on hellfire, but on the immediate consequences of our speech. Our words stain us before they touch others. When we speak ill of someone behind their back, we darken our own light, poison our own well.
II. Gnosticism
From the Gnostic tradition comes a striking understanding: the material world is often manipulated by lower forces—the archons, servants of the Demiurge—that seek to keep the soul bound in ignorance.
Gossip and backbiting are tools of these lower forces. Why? Because they distract us from the true work of the soul. They entangle us in judgment, separation, and duality. They keep our gaze turned outward rather than inward.
The Gospel of Thomas (saying 70) speaks clearly: “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”
When we speak against others, we project our inner shadow onto the world. Rather than confronting our own insecurities, fears, or pain, we displace them onto someone else. In so doing, we deepen our bondage to illusion.
III. Western Hermeticism
In Western Hermeticism, speech is not merely communication. It is creation. The first principle of the Kybalion, a foundational Hermetic text, is Mentalism: “The All is Mind; the Universe is Mental.” From this, it follows that our thoughts and words are acts of creation.
To gossip, then, is to create distortion. To backbite is to shape shadows from light. The Emerald Tablet teaches: “As above, so below; as within, so without.” If our words fracture the harmony of our relationships, they also fracture our inner peace.
Think of the magician’s wand—symbolic of will and intention. The mouth, the tongue, is a wand. Every word casts a spell, for good or ill. Do we speak life into others? Or do we, through envy, pride, or pettiness, craft dark enchantments that drain energy from both speaker and subject?
To misuse the tongue is to break the Law of Cause and Effect—the principle of Karma. As you sow with your words, so shall you reap in your spiritual body.
IV. Eastern Wisdom: Right Speech and the Law of Karma
The teachings of the Buddha offer one of the most precise blueprints for ethical speech. In the Noble Eightfold Path, we find the principle of Right Speech. This includes:
- Abstaining from false speech
- Abstaining from slanderous speech
- Abstaining from harsh speech
- Abstaining from idle chatter
Gossip violates all four.
In Dhammapada 233, the Buddha teaches: “Speak the truth; do not yield to anger; give, if you are asked for little; by these three things one goes to the presence of the gods.”
In Hindu philosophy, particularly in the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 17, verses 15–16, Krishna speaks of austerities of speech:
“Speech that is non-offensive, truthful, pleasant, beneficial, and the regular recitation of the Vedas – these are the austerities of speech.”
Gossip is the opposite of austerity. It is indulgence. It is spiritual gluttony, and it leaves the speaker bloated with ego and emptiness.
V. The Ethical Mirror: Gossip as Projection
Psychologically and spiritually, gossip is often a projection of what we cannot or will not address in ourselves. Carl Jung spoke of the “shadow”—the part of ourselves we refuse to acknowledge. When we gossip, we often speak to our own denied aspects.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:3: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Gossip is a subtle plank—it keeps us from seeing clearly, either inward or outward.
In Hermetic and Gnostic psychology, this is a misuse of Logos—the divine Word within us. Instead of using our speech to elevate, we use it to anesthetize our own self-loathing. Thus, gossip becomes a narcotic of the ego.
VI. The Consequences: Inner Decay and Social Fragmentation
When we gossip, we do not merely hurt others. We erode trust. We weaken the threads of spiritual communion. As Paul writes in Galatians 5:15:
“If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
Let us understand: in every faith, community is sacred. In Buddhism, the Sangha. In Christianity, the Body of Christ. In Hermeticism, the Brotherhood of the Light. Gossip is a termite in the wooden beams of spiritual fellowship. It hollows out the structure until collapse is inevitable.
Furthermore, when we listen to gossip, we are not passive. We are complicit. In doing so, we create a field in which darkness thrives.
VII. The Remedy: Mindful SpeecSpeechSpeechh and Compassionate Silence
What, then, shall we do?
We begin by cultivating silence. Not just the absence of speech, but the presence of deep listening. Silence is the crucible in which wisdom is born. As Ecclesiastes 3:7 says: “There is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.”
When we do speak, let us speak as the Buddha instructed:
- Is it true?
- Is it necessary?
- Is it kind?
The great Sufi poet Rumi wrote: “Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates: Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?” What would our world look like if this was the rule of the tongue?
In the Golden Dawn tradition, the neophyte is taught to guard the threshold of speech, for to utter an unworthy word is to disturb the harmony of the spheres. Every utterance should reflect truth, beauty, and love—those eternal virtues upheld in the Western Mysteries.
VIII. The Higher Path: Blessing Instead of Cursing
The true initiate, the one who walks the path of Light, learns to bless rather than curse. To praise rather than tear down. To guard the dignity of others, even when they are absent.
As Romans 12:14 says: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.”
This is not weakness. This is power. The one who restrains the tongue is the one who holds the reins of their soul.
In every sacred tradition, the tongue is the razor’s edge of karma. Let it be a tool of liberation, not bondage.
Conclusion: Words as Seeds, Not Swords
Beloved seekers,
Let us leave here today with this understanding etched into our spirit: that words are sacred. They are not weapons for wounding behind closed doors. They are seeds—seeds that will grow into either trees of peace or thorns of regret.
Let us take up the discipline of Right Speech—not as a burden, but as an offering to the Divine. Let our conversations become prayers. Let our words become medicine.
For in the end, every syllable is a choice. A choice to bless or to wound. A choice to uplift or to diminish. A choice to walk in Light—or to cast shadows upon our path.
So I ask you, in the silence that follows this message: What world will you create with your words?