Forbidden Knowledge

Knowledge is a familiarity, awareness, or understanding of someone or something, such as facts, information, descriptions, or skills, which is acquired through experience or education by perceiving, discovering, or learning. Knowledge can refer to a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.

Truth is most often used to mean being in accord with fact or reality, or fidelity to an original or standard. Truth is also sometimes defined in modern contexts as an idea of "truth to self", or authenticity.

Secret meanwhile, is something not known or seen or not meant to be known or seen by others. It is kept hidden or separate from the knowledge of others.

Deceit on the other hand, is the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth.

Forbidden knowledge, which is different from secret knowledge, is used to describe forbidden books or other information to which access is restricted or deprecated for political or religious reasons.

Forbidden knowledge is commonly not secret, rather a society or various institutions will use repressive mechanisms to either completely prevent the publication of information they find objectionable or dangerous (censorship), or failing that, to try to reduce the public's trust in such information (propaganda).

Public repression can create paradoxical situation where the proscribed information is generally common knowledge but publicly citing it is disallowed. In many cases this resulted in people defending themselves by creating political jokes. Jokes throughout history have been a powerful instrument to undermine state authority and the public truth associated with it.

Some form of public repression of facts or speculation not desirable to some people or even a majority of the population seems inevitable as societies need to create some common basis of facts to create a unified identity. Critical to political and personal freedom is the level to which this repression is organized through the state or powerful private organizations.

Western secular societies have reached the consensus through the late 19th and early 20th centuries that private organizations should not be allowed to engage in compulsory censorship, forcing people to obey their dictates.

Hiding the truth is a dangerous game. Too many people have died in the name of secrecy. We were born as the greatest communicators on the planet. Our languages give us endless potentials. But when we are silent, our True Power becomes useless and we suffer horribly from this silence. Hiding the Truth is the same as Lying and Propaganda, and could constitute ill-intent.

Intention in criminal law is one of three general classes of mens rea necessary to constitute a conventional, as opposed to strict liability, crime. A more formal, generally synonymous legal term is scienter: intent or knowledge of wrongdoing.

At first sight, concealing or hiding seems very innocent in comparison to lying. If you have nothing to gain and your purpose is to protect the other person from pain or grief, then not telling is may be the right thing to do and therefore acceptable.

Depending on the situation, not telling to truth or delaying it might make you liar as well. If your intention is to save yourself from trouble or grief over something you have done that you should not have done, or did not do that you should have done, then not telling is probably the same as lying. This is because your main purpose is to deceive.

There is no big difference between lying and hiding the truth, if hidden stuff is something that person has to know because the outcome is the same regardless. It is taking your friend or loved one’s making decision based on right information away since they do not know whole situation correctly.

They are completely or partially in the dark about it and it may be important, much more important than you think. Therefore do not decide for other people especially for the ones you care the most. Be open with them, let them decide how they want to proceed by knowing the whole situation although it is not in your favor. Especially when it comes to relationships; do not hide things which might have big effect on your future. It will come to light soon or later, and will leave you in more difficult situation than if you tell the truth in the beginning. It might even make you a liar.

If you find yourself preferring to hide something, you may feel like delaying it until the right opportunity to tell or reveal comes up. However, it is better to just get things out in the open from the beginning, unless it goes against your better judgment in justify something you do when you know perfectly well you shouldn't be doing it.

Revelation is the releasing or telling of surprising and previously unknown fact that has not been disclosed to others. It entails honesty, disclosure of information, without omission or withholding of significant facts that may bias a decision.

Honesty is a facet of moral character that connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, straightforwardness, including straightforwardness of conduct, along with the absence of lying, cheating, theft, etc. Honesty also involves being trustworthy, loyal, fair, and sincere.

Honesty is a virtue that is vanishing from our society. Medias often portray dishonesty as cute and funny. People in public office regularly attempt to deceive the electorate to gain a political advantage. In fact, dishonesty in politics is so rampant, and is a tragedy. And it need not be so.

Increasingly, there is no place left for free expression as in politically incorrect ideas, opinions, or images. But then again, societies have all along been based on contrasting beliefs of righteousness...

“Do not share the knowledge with which you have been blessed with everyone in general, as you do with some people in particular; and know that there are some men in whom Allah (God), may He be glorified, has placed hidden secrets, which they are forbidden to reveal.” Ali ibn Abi Talib

“There are no things man was not meant to know. There are, perhaps, things man is too dumb to figure out, but that's a different problem.” Michael Kurland

Food for thought!