I have been practicing chastity of speech for a couple of weeks now. It is definitely a denial of self. Especially for me, because I have realized just how much I talked out loud with myself, which is called ‘private speech’. It is something children do as they are learning how to assimilate language and thought together. The final step in this internalization of speech is theorized by Vygotsky to be ‘inner speech’, when a person quits speaking aloud around the age of 7 and begins having thought-speech internally, but not audibly, in a healthy environment.
I think perhaps I got stuck in the private speech stage, and speaking aloud is something I do when I don’t have an intimate to talk to, and like a child, when I am working out something rather complex, like a problem of some sort.
I felt God calling me to be chaste in my speech mainly because I don’t want to bless demons with my thoughts anymore, as I feel like the devil often listens to me. Not necessarily to harm me, but to be nosy and assume more rights than he should.
The Bible speaks often of being chaste in speech, and it is one of the evangelical vows nuns and monks take, in order to be more holy.
Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes through much activity, and a fool’s voice is known by his many words. ~Ecclesiastes 5:2-3
~Song of Mary~ 