We were talking. And struck by a similar thought. How thick, or thin, fuzzy, clear or ambiguous is the line between secrecy and privacy?
Some of us, we were born to be more secretive than others. At least we are open about what it is that we hide. While others, hide so well, that you barely know that something is being hidden.
We all need our secret gardens. Where things grow, and shrivel, and die.
nehamaami 
God this rings so true..
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True.
Few questions & answers are known to oneself only.
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Some of us, we were born to be more secretive than others.
That line’s a keeper.
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Sigh! So true!
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We all need our secret gardens. Where things grow, and shrivel, and die.
Yes, very true and expressed so poetically.
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In a few paragraphs you have summarized a topic I’m very passionate about: privacy is very important to me; I understand that what is privacy for some might be tantamount to secrecy for others, but I guess we deserve our own definitions for this concept. What say?
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It’s a strange distinction. But I guess some of us need to be very private about certain aspects of our life. Even with (Especially with?) people we are extremely close to.
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The problem is not privacy as much as the desire to be accepted by the people around you. If they accept you as you are, there is no need to hide anything. I think privacy is determined to a large extent by the things you were taught as a child.
It is a conditioned response, not a thought out one.
My grandmother, for instance, used to say that she does not understand why we have to wear so many clothes. Bra, and blouse, and a pallu on top!
Panties, petticoat, and a long long saree on the bottom. All the same, I have never seen her without all these items.
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True, hiding may stem from initial issues with acceptance. But after a while, hiding becomes a matter of habit, rather than serving an actual functional purpose perhaps?
Am inclined to believe that it has something to do with how much you trust the world outside to understand you. Experiences make us more cynical and more secretive.
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A garden, be it open for all to see or closed to strange eyes, needs to be tended and nourished. But invariably that which is hidden from the world tends to shrivel because it perhaps never achieves its true potential. And yet one must have the right to one’s private enclave, a hiding place where we keep our deepest thoughts, desires and feelings.
Inherently when we hide something, the effort shows on our faces. Masks then become indispensable and in this complicated world, cannot we do without this additional complication?
Secrets are like plants; they need to be shared with someone close to your heart for them to survive, or else in the confines of your mind they will die out. One’s desire for privacy should never be equated with a carte-Blanche to be secretive. We owe it to ourselves to be open with the world, or at least with those who care for us, and for whom we care.
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On the contrary – I think it’s perfectly okay for some things to shrivel and die. I think we owe it to ourselves to be secretive about a few things. It’s almost like a right. How much openness is recommended? What about the vulnerability that comes with this openness?
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Privacy is self-centred, not in the pejorative way but in the description of the ‘object’ of what it keeps hidden – things about the self. Secrecy is more all-encompassing in that the ‘object’ it protects could be other people or things affecting them, including respecting their privacy and personal preferences.
On public fora, the two come together and separate like waves at different points in time, in different contexts. Never the same, never too separate.
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On public fora, the two come together and separate like waves at different points in time, in different contexts. Never the same, never too separate.
Brilliantly put.
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Whoa, whoa, whoa.
What’s this talk of shrivelling and dying? Some of us plant evergreens, we’d have you know.
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Very true. Some people justify secerecy by citing the need for privacy. However, in most cases, the more guarded the secret (and the fact that there is a secret at all), the more heightened is the facade, or the projection of an image of the self. That explains why politicians are the least trusted people. They have endless truths to hide, when they are the ones who, of necessity, need to be the most open about their dealings.
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Pingback: Why I blog? « Tears and Dreams
Talking about me?
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Hey there, I am very new to blogging (though have been reading you for a long time). Still learning basic etiquette. Should have told you that I linked you.
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we all living things need our space, and we call it private. secrecy is human affair. privacy is social acceptance. secrecy is for exploration.
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