Via Negativa Speech

Subtract the noise. Protect the mind. Keep the soul clean.

Maybe the most virtuous way to approach speech isn’t “say more,” or “share more,” or “communicate better.”

Maybe the virtuous way is via negativa:

figure out what to remove.

Because truth is: most talking isn’t communication.

It’s just noise wearing a costume.

And the modern world is basically a 24/7 noise factory:

notifications, hot takes, outrage bait, “content,” endless chatter… and somehow we’re trained to believe that being always-on is a moral good.

Nah.

The cleanest move is often the simplest:

Don’t open your mouth.

Not because you’re timid.

Not because you’re “nice.”

But because your silence is a weapon. A shield. A filter. A form of sovereignty.

Via negativa as a technology philosophy

The best tech is subtractive tech.

The best thing to install on your phone? Ad blockers. Pop-up blockers. Tracker blockers.
The best headphones? Noise canceling.
The best underrated technology? Earplugs. (Yes, the purple ones. The humble little “I choose peace” cylinders.)

It’s the same principle every time:

Not more inputs. Fewer inputs. Cleaner inputs.

The goal isn’t “connect.”

The goal is tranquility.

Peace isn’t something you discover.

Peace is something you defend.

Speech is an attention economy

Words aren’t free.

Every sentence costs something:

your energy
your attention
your emotional bandwidth
your future regret

Most people talk like they have unlimited attention.

They don’t.

They talk like every thought deserves to become sound.

It doesn’t.

They talk like every reaction deserves to be broadcast.

It doesn’t.

The mouth is a portal.

Once something passes through it, it becomes real in the room.

So the question isn’t “How can I express myself more?”

The better question is:

What should never leave my mouth?

Different rooms, different speech

There’s always a different way to talk depending on where you are.

There’s banter with the boys.

There’s gentleness with your kids.

There’s a different voice with your spouse.

A different cadence with strangers.

A different tone with elders.

A different stance with your priest.

You don’t talk to your childhood friends the way you talk in a sacred space.

And you don’t talk to a sacred space like it’s group chat.

Speech is like clothing:

wear the right thing
for the right context
for the right purpose

The mistake is treating every room like it’s the same room.

Communicate less

We live in the era of compulsive broadcasting.

Everyone is always “available.”

Everyone is always posting.

Everyone is always replying.

Everyone is always performing the role of “reachable human.”

Even houses now “talk.”

Home security devices talk. Doorbells talk. Watches talk. Cars talk.

It’s like the world is trying to turn your mind into a public restroom:

anyone can walk in at any time.

But here’s the asymmetry that breaks the whole fantasy:

Imagine you’re insanely famous and you get 1,000 messages a day.

And the person messaging you gets… maybe two messages a day.

They think replying is “polite.”

But replying to everyone is not a virtue.

It’s not even possible.

Even if you had 18 hours a day, you couldn’t do it.

Even if you had every assistant on the planet, you still couldn’t.

So now we get this weird moral pressure:

“Why aren’t you responding?”

As if you owe a piece of your life to every incoming ping.

No.

Sometimes the most honest response is no response.

Sometimes the most virtuous response is silence.

Sometimes the highest respect you can give your future self is:

don’t let your day get hijacked by other people’s impulses.

The bot problem

And another thing… online it’s increasingly impossible to know who is real.

Maybe it’s a bot.

Maybe it’s bait.

Maybe it’s a bored stranger cosplaying as certainty.

Maybe it’s an algorithm dragging you into a mud pit for “engagement.”

So arguing online becomes this absurd sport:

shadowboxing ghosts

for points that don’t matter

in a stadium you don’t own.

The via negativa move is simple:

Stop feeding the machine.

Friendly vs available

There’s this fake virtue in modern life:

“Be kind.”

“Be accessible.”

“Be responsive.”

“Always communicate.”

But here’s the truth:

You can be friendly without being available.

You can be warm without being reachable.

You can be sociable without being absorbable.

I like being friendly.

I like being sociable.

I like being a positive presence to random parents, market strangers, awkward people, silent people.

But there’s a difference between:

being friendly
and
being an emotional trash can

The world doesn’t need more fake kindness.

It needs more clean energy.

And clean energy requires boundaries.

A simple rule:

Be warm. Be selective.

Via negativa speech

Before you change the world, change yourself.

The first revolution is internal.

The first step:

remove negativity from your speech.

Because negative speech is contagious.

It spreads. It multiplies. It stains the room.

And most negativity is not “truth.”

It’s just someone trying to outsource their discomfort.

Stop exporting poison

Not everything you notice needs to be said.

Not every irritation needs to be shared.

Not every judgment needs a microphone.

The cleanest lifestyle is:

No gossip. No petty complaints. No emotional leaking.

If you want to be hardcore about it, treat your mouth like a filter:

If it’s not useful, not kind, not necessary, not true, not timely…

do not release it.

The “don’t talk about…” list

This is a brutal but liberating practice:

Don’t talk about the news.
Don’t talk about politics.
Don’t talk about entertainment celebrity nonsense.
Don’t talk about TV shows like they’re real life.
Don’t talk about things that do not affect your life, your family, your craft, your body, your values—today.

Even local politics. Even “hot topics.”

Most of it is just a mechanism to make you reactive.

Instead:

Talk about what you can verify.

What you’re building
What you learned
What you fear
What you desire
What you’re trying to improve
What you actually did with your hands, your legs, your camera, your work

That’s real.

That’s human.

That’s grounded.

A practical code for speech

If you want something you can actually live, try this:

Speak less, but speak cleaner

Less volume. More precision.
Less opinion. More observation.
Less performance. More truth.
Less reaction. More intention.

Pause before you speak

Ask:

Is this necessary?
Is this helpful?
Is this going to make the room heavier or lighter?
Am I about to say this because I’m anxious, bored, or trying to feel important?

If it’s the anxious/bored/important impulse:

swallow it.

Let it die inside you.

That’s strength.

The quiet flex

The quiet person in the room is often the strongest one.

Because they aren’t trying to win social points.

They aren’t trying to prove they exist.

They aren’t trying to “be seen.”

They’re saving energy.

They’re watching.

They’re deciding.

Silence is not emptiness.

Silence is bandwidth.

Maybe a New Year’s resolution: less friendliness?

Not less warmth.

Less performative friendliness.

Less being social out of obligation.

Less being nice because you’re scared of being disliked.

Less “people-pleasing.”

clean boundaries
honest no’s
selective yes’s
deeper attention for fewer people

Because you can’t be deeply present for everyone.

So stop pretending.

New Year’s photo resolutions

2026 is ahead. Blank canvas. Carte blanche.

The old portfolio mentality is a trap:

“Will this fit my look?”

“Will this match my feed?”

“Will this impress strangers?”

“Will this keep me consistent?”

Consistency is overrated when it becomes a prison.

A more powerful approach:

Return to beginner energy.

Not beginner skills—beginner hunger.

The new goal isn’t to polish the old portfolio.

The new goal is to create a new portfolio.

A new body of work.

A new era.

A new heartbeat.

Protect your mind, your soul-space

Life is too short to keep toxic things in your head.

Ruthlessly prune:

negative thoughts
negative people
negative group chats
negative dopamine loops
negative “just checking” scrolling

Your mind is a garden.

Stop letting random strangers throw trash into it.

Photo future

My honest thought: the future of media is moving.

Still photos aren’t dead, but motion is the new gravity.

And the future camera might not be a camera.

It might be AI video generation.

It might be tools like SORA, SORA 2, and whatever comes next.

Because the real tool isn’t the sensor.

It’s the imagination.

If your mission is to create, then paying monthly for the ability to generate moving images can be more valuable than buying another $1600 device that sits on the shelf.

The question isn’t “Is it worth it?”

The better question is:

How much is your imagination worth?

If you can turn your mind into a movie studio…

why wouldn’t you try?

So experiment.

Make ten short films.

Make one strange one.

Make one ugly one.

Make one that makes you laugh.

Make one that scares you.

Make one that feels like a dream you forgot.

Treat it like lifting:

consistent reps
progressive overload
less talk, more output

The meta-lesson

Via negativa isn’t about becoming silent forever.

It’s about becoming selective.

It’s about treating your attention like a sacred resource.

Subtract the noise.

Cancel the nonsense.

Block the garbage.

Prune the negativity.

Then whatever remains—your words, your images, your presence—

becomes sharper.

Cleaner.

Harder.

More alive.

ERIC