THE SPIRIT AND OPPRESSION  BY SILO

In Valparaiso there was a meeting of "right-thinking" people who saw themselves as being winners, and who therefore clashed with Silo's proclamation, which read: "My teaching is not for the victorious, but for those who carry failure in their hearts."

Then someone asked (in a friendly tone) for an explanation of the meaning of the proclamation.

Silo replied that he would speak about the spirit and oppression.

"There was once a very powerful man who had a large number of sheep. In order to prevent their escape, he built a fence. Some, however, broke out of their prison and managed to escape. To prevent this, the powerful man brought dogs who watched night and day.

Regardless, some sheep still managed to escape, and others were killed by their keepers, who ruined their meat and skin with their ferocious bites and then, enthused by the taste of blood, entered the sheepfold and continued their slaughter.

The powerful man saw that the fence was too weak to contain the sheep and that the watchdogs were dangerous.

He then sent for a magician. The magician put all the sheep to sleep and made them dream that they were free. When they awoke, they went on believing they were there voluntarily and stopped abandoning their master. Thus, the powerful man took down the fence and removed the dogs, simply taking from the sheep as he pleased when he needed meat and skins.

The sheep is the spirit of the human being. The powerful man is the one who wants to use the human spirit. The fence, the dogs, and the magician are the oppressor's helpers.

To fence the spirit is to separate it from the world through ignorance.

To surround the spirit with guardians is to keep it docile by violence and force, instilling fear in it.

Finally, to lull the spirit is to degrade it with persuasion and beautiful falsehoods.

These three forms of spiritual murder have been used down through time.

Ignorance and fear have not been powerful enough to contain the impulses of freedom. (On the other hand, an ignorant and fearful person is not as useful to the oppressor as one who has been trained, with whom there is no need for violence because he agrees with infamy.)

When a person no longer needs fences or watchdogs and is content with the falsehood of their life, it is because their spirit has died.

There are those who sell their inner freedom to achieve security or material well-being. They are the ones who call themselves free because they do not desire another life, and they find it insulting to hear anyone speak of the need for awakening.

When people sleep in this way, they collaborate with the oppression and work for the good of the oppressor. They are considered "useful" to the causes of the State, which at the same time docilely serves the empire.

Someone who has degraded themself to that extent is a winner and is held up as an example of work and self improvement. They receive their pay at the expense of the suffering of others whom they consider incapable.

One can only become a winner by obeying the commands of the master, whether the master is called State, Morality, or Religion.

The false winner sleeps, but his dreams are often filled with alarm because sooner or later some sheep wake up and begin to awaken the others... Little by little, it becomes clear in the sheepfold that people no longer believe in false freedom.

The winners don't need this teaching because they have already satisfied their ambitions. Why all the fuss when it is to the failures that I address my words?

I only believe in those who recognize themselves as outside the fence and who do not enjoy the benefits of the victor.

Ah, winner! You cannot blame me for not speaking for you, because you don't need me, and if I speak for those who need me, why do you bother me?

The poor and the sick, the powerless and the futureless are the failures. They are those who have been disappointed in their ideals, cut short in their loves, chastened in their faith, betrayed in their goodness.

When you recognize yourself as a failure, I will console you because then the spirit will be yours and you will discover the need for inner liberation, the need for renunciation, the need to kill desire.

January 22, 1969.