Right speech

Let's see, what was I telling Scot at RSA? Something about how I feel obligated to blog as close to every day as possible, so that those who check the blog will at least have something new to look at? And when was the last time I blogged? Uh, Sunday?

I wonder if it has anything to do with Right Speech?

I've been reading about "Right Speech" as part of an online group studying the Pali Suttas. "Right Speech" is one part of the Noble Eightfold Path, and the path as a whole is the Fourth Noble Truth: the path that leads out of suffering.

As a rhetorician, I'm interested in Right Speech as a possible way of thinking rhetoric outside of the ancient Greek and Roman tradition (or, at least, alongside it). So far, Right Speech has been presented as primarily a matter of what not to say:

Abstinence from false speech, abstinence from divisive speech, abstinence from abusive speech, abstinence from idle chatter: This is called right speech.
–SN XLV.8

All those abstinence policies might make me think twice about what I blog.

Then again, I'm not sure that's why I haven't been blogging so much. Still, it might give me pause, mightn't it?