The Spiritual Consequences of Slander — YouTube from the CEC Library

Let us talk about the spiritual consequences of malicious talk. This topic is important for personal and spiritual growth. Malicious talk is an unhealthy behavior that is difficult to identify because it is often disguised in everyday communication. Identifying it is a fundamental step on this path of self-knowledge.

Malicious talk is the habit of speaking ill of someone who is not present. This behavior is linked to judgment and nonacceptance. When we criticize destructively, we are judging and not accepting the person as they are. If we accepted them, there would be no judgment. Why do we judge and fail to accept? Because we project our difficulties onto others. What bothers us in another person generally reflects something within ourselves. It is easier to criticize than to look inward and understand what affects us. Malicious talk occurs when we speak ill of someone to third parties rather than directly to the person involved. Being assertive and speaking directly with the person removes us from the realm of malicious talk.

A relevant phrase says that "every opinion is a view laden with personal history; judgment is a confession." When we judge, we reveal more about ourselves than about the other person. Freud used to say, "When Pedro tells me about Paulo, I know more about Pedro than about Paulo." This illustrates how our criticisms reflect our own issues.

Reflecting on malicious talk helps us understand that, when we speak ill of someone, we are dealing with our own difficulties and nonacceptance. Recognizing this is an important step toward self-knowledge and spiritual evolution. To be happy, one must follow the path of evolution, which is not the path of consolation but of self-evaluation. One of the keys to freeing oneself from emotional difficulties and evolving is accepting the other person. Acceptance is fundamental.

"Do you want to be happy? Accept the other person." Even when it involves accepting a criminal, one must understand that the person is on their own path. Acceptance does not mean agreeing or living with the person, but recognizing that they are in their process and are what they are capable of being. This means not judging but accepting that each person is on their own path. To be happy, one needs to accept people and relate well to them, regardless of who they are. This is a difficult key, but it can be practiced. First, it is necessary to reflect on what we do not accept in ourselves, because the path of evolution begins with inner work, dealing with one's own ego.

We should ask ourselves: "What difficulties do I have with myself? What do I need to work on? What do I not accept in myself?" We often whip ourselves with guilt, and when we are full of emotional difficulties, we tend to see the other person in the same way, pointing out flaws. It is easier to see other people's flaws than our own. Every moment of reflection is an opportunity both for the person who speaks and the person who listens.

Acceptance is essential because each person is unique, with their own evolutionary level and history. When we judge, we do not consider the person's complete history, only a small piece filtered through our emotional difficulties. If we did not have these filters, we would not judge. A study from a university in the United States showed that people who speak ill of others generally have inferiority complexes and insecurity. They feel inferior and, to feel better, put others down through destructive criticism. This type of person also had a strong tendency toward depression. Happier, well-adjusted people do not speak ill of others and offer constructive criticism because they do not feel threatened.

Everything is interconnected, especially in the emotional chakras—the base, spleen, and navel chakras—which are below the heart chakra. The heart chakra is the intermediary between the higher and lower chakras, where we begin to have greater emotional balance. When we are operating through the emotional chakras, we experience highs and lows, and malicious talk is a common behavior at this level of consciousness. Well-adjusted people do not feel the need to speak ill of others.

A first impression is generally based on form, leading us to judge without considering the actual content because we often cannot see beyond appearances. A practical exercise consists of observing people and imagining their lives based solely on appearance. For example, when you see a stranger, try to imagine who the person is, what they do, where they work, and how they live, based only on their appearance. Then reflect on the other possibilities this person could represent. By doing this exercise, one realizes that the possibilities are infinite and that we are limited when judging only by the "packaging."

This reflection that "not everything is what it seems" leads us to observe people on the street. We are often mistaken when we judge because we have no idea what is truly happening in people's lives. To truly understand someone, it is necessary to hear their history. By listening, we often realize that our assumptions were wrong. This reflection leads us to consider the spiritual consequences of our judgments.

Reactions to this reflection vary among relief, injustice, loneliness, acceptance, and sadness. This shows how easy it is to criticize without understanding another person's path. Each of us has our own history and reasons for our choices. No one has walked in our shoes, just as we have not walked in those of others. We can feel empathy but will never completely understand another person's experience.

The Spanish saying "ponerse en los zapatos del otro" illustrates this idea well. We can try to understand, but we can never truly wear another person's shoes. Each person has their own history, choices, and challenges. What we can do is offer support and use our potential to help without criticizing or judging. When we speak ill of someone, we generate negative energy. This may be motivated by anger, jealousy, insecurity, spite, wounded pride, revenge, or envy. These emotions create an energy pattern that affects both us and others. Therefore, it is important to use our communication positively, offering constructive criticism and positive energy to help people grow and follow their paths.

One of the emotions we should identify is what we feel when speaking ill of someone. When we generate this negative emotion, what is the first destination of these energies? We ourselves are. Of the energy we create, 50% remains with us. This is great ignorance: half of this negative energy remains with us, and the other half goes into the environment where we are. Thus, we remain immersed in the negative energies we create.

These energies are generated by our emotional difficulties. When we act in this way, we attract spiritual consciousnesses at the same level, which ultimately intensify the situation. These consciousnesses reinforce the negativity, and we continue speaking ill of the other person. By doing so, we evoke the person we are discussing, connect with them, vampirize their energies, and may even cause physical problems such as accidents or pain, depending on the energy's intensity.

The person's spiritual companions also perceive what is happening and come to demand an explanation from us. This generates spiritual conflict, a true energetic confusion that affects us physically, causing headaches, stomach pain, and other discomfort. We often fail to realize that these symptoms are the result of the energetic harassment we created.

It is important to be aware that our actions go beyond the physical and affect the spiritual. Speaking ill is not the only harmful act; listening also makes us co-responsible. By listening to malicious talk, we feed this attitude in the other person. Speaking ill and listening are pleasurable because they cause us to descend energetically—which is easy and simple. However, we can take steps to change this, such as intervening positively in the conversation, changing the focus, or simply leaving.

The true reason should be respect. Respecting people, nature, and everything around us is fundamental. Respect is close to acceptance, which is the principle of love. To stop engaging in malicious talk, we should practice respect. Socrates' filters are a useful exercise: he used them when someone wanted to talk about another person. These filters help us reflect on the necessity and truth of what we are about to say, promoting more respectful and conscious communication.

Socrates' three filters are a valuable exercise: before speaking, ask yourself whether what you are about to say is true, whether it is positive, and whether it is useful. Practicing these filters helps us improve our communication and coexistence. Truth can be relative, so when in doubt, it is better not to assert something about which we are not certain. Regarding dealing with narcissistic people, it is important to remember that each person has their own path. The point is not to allow another person's behavior to affect us. We should focus on ourselves and not allow the other person's attitude to harm us. This applies to any situation, such as when someone speaks ill of another person, creating karma and possible negative consequences, such as the affected person losing their job.

Self-acceptance is an ongoing process. To love and accept others, we first need to love and accept ourselves. This involves recognizing our qualities and flaws without comparing ourselves with others. It is constant work that requires attention and effort to overcome the ego. Reflecting on past lives may increase our empathy. We do not know what we experienced or what others went through, so it is important to have compassion and understanding. People often lie or act negatively because of insecurity or ignorance, not malice.

Speaking ill of others is easy and pleasurable, but it keeps us from looking at ourselves. We should ask why certain characteristics bother us and seek to resolve our inner issues. If we realize that we have spoken ill of someone, apologizing is an assertive and sincere act, both toward the person and on the spiritual plane.

When children make mistakes, especially if they are young, it is important to guide them without being disrespectful. Explaining that certain attitudes are unhealthy helps children learn appropriate behaviors. We cannot control whether they will follow our advice, but we can offer guidance without emotional charge. You can only guide, not control the other person's reaction. The parents' role is to be a helper who provides guidance but cannot ensure that the children will follow it. The best way to guide them is to be a point of reference, a model for them.

When someone humiliates you, use the technique of assertiveness: speak directly with the person and say that you felt bad and that you do not know whether it was unfair. Do not speak ill of the person to others, because many people want to do harm. The ideal approach is not to enter this pattern and to seek the best path. If someone speaks ill of you, it is their problem, not yours. This reflects the person's emotional difficulty. If you learn about it, speak with the person and ask what difficulty they have with you. Reflect on what was said, see what is true or not, and accept it or not. Remember that the problem belongs to the other person, not you, although this is not easy to handle. Speaking about someone, even positively, can be a form of vampirism if a negative charge is involved because it steals energy. Saying positive things is not vampirism.