ENEMIES: From War to Wisdom Episode 41: Free Speech and Right Speech: Following the Path of Non-Hatred

There are many public debates about “free speech” in terms of limiting “hate speech” that includes insults, hostility, or slander against others, especially “vulnerable others.” In this podcast we discuss how speech (the ways we speak to ourselves and others) plays a central role in ceding or avoiding war and chaos. We will compare “free speech,” as defended in the US Constitution, with Right Speech as promoted in the Eightfold Noble Path of the Buddhist practice. Right Speech is divided into four components: abstaining from false speech, abstaining from slanderous speech, abstaining from harsh (divisive) speed, and abstaining from idle chatter. Speech and the written word are immensely powerful in creating wisdom or destruction. In this podcast, we will talk about how to develop and discern our speech so that we can engage in non-hatred at all times, opening the door to a humane treatment of others and ourselves.