The talk of silence

Overview of the book "The Silence of the Word" - Michel Maffesoli: Should we say everything, speak without limits, and dare to the point of blasphemy, risking destroying what establishes society, this implicit consensus on shared values? After a year of Charlie Hebdo, Michel Maffesoli, with what we know of him from science and broad knowledge, risks this question. He works on understanding the return of "the sacred": this collective need in our societies for emotional connection, communication, explosion into the other, the other of society, the other of the universe, the other of the divine. To implement this precise, intuitive, and spiritual thinking, Michel Maffesoli acts like medieval theologians he likes to consult: about God, about the divine, we only speak through avoidance. The negative theology he applies to what he calls the social divine alternation, surrounding religiosity, and the cause and effect of the "sacred." Ultimately, the "secret of the community" is what must be preserved, that which motivates beginners among themselves and allows participation and living together with all its spiritual intensity.