I dream of two houses.

[wolven7]

Secrets. Everyone has them, everyone knows them, but as I was recently reminded, in reading The Five Fists of Science, having a secret and knowing one are two different things. However, it's also been said that three can keep a secret if two of them are dead. In any event, you can continue to have your, or you can let me know them. What do you think?

I think you should tell me a secret.

I've been thinking about this, a lot, recently. I was in DC, drove past the NSA building three or four times. Secrets spring to mind, then.

I was also reading Alabaster, while away. Finished it, today. And for that i think of the other. If you are not comfortable telling me a secret, display to me a mystery, a wonder, unsolved, and hopefully unsolvable.

As Neil Gaiman once had Cain say in his voice, "It's the mystery that endures. Not the explanation. . . They'll peck you to pieces if you tell them..."

Tell me yours and, whenever you ask, I may tell you mine.

Comments

no secrets here...

[davidsfoley.livejournal.com]

Sorry, can't think of any to say.

But I did remember something odd the other day.

Many of the secrets I have been entrusted with over the years; or other things I've known which I was told "You Do Not Know This" are gone.

I really don't know many of those things anymore. More to the point, I don't remember who told them to me. I've simply forgotten everything, save the fact that I "didn't know" it.

Guess it worked pretty well then?

Re: no secrets here...

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Almost all secrets eventually become general consumption knowledge. Almost. The thing about a secret is the fear of reprisal, the fear that what you know, or have done, or are thinking is wrong, that it will somehow hurt you, or hurt someone you love.

And maybe it will. Maybe. But eventually, there comes a time when that hurt isn't a concern. And you can move on, and let them go. So, if you've forgotten them, you can rest assured that it probably doesn't matter that you ever weren't to have known.

Re: no secrets here...

[davidsfoley.livejournal.com]

I certainly hope that I've either forgotten them or that they have become public knowledge. The other possibility that has occurred to me is that I do remember the thing or things, but have forgotten that I "don't remember."

That would not be good.

Re: no secrets here...

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That would be no good at all.

That's the thing about secrets

[the-old-songs.livejournal.com]

If it's something I'm so willing to tell you, then it must not really be a secret. And if it's not really a secret I'm telling you, then it's not really what you're looking for. Your question is inherently paradoxical. It's a catch 22. It's 6 of one, half a dozen of the other... wait... not that last thing.

Re: That's the thing about secrets

[wolven.livejournal.com]

I didn't say someone would be Willing to tell me, at least not at first. But one can ask. Secrets aren't about willingness, so much as trust. Trust enfolds willingness, in these situations, and you'll be willing to tell me, if and only if you trust me.

That's the point. No paradox is so large that it can't be embraced.