Language as a tool for awakening

Nick Malin, a BrightSky partner, musician and practitioner has been studying and practicing Buddhist insight meditation and yoga asana & pranayama for over 10 years. He shared with us this article exploring the power of language, its role in the rebuilding of our world and how words are the swords of the spiritual warrior.

“The limits of my language are the limits of my world” — Ludwig Wittgenstein

Language are the building blocks of our lives and our manifestation into this world. Language builds connection. It is in the very language we use with ourselves and others that creates our perspective of our very place in the Universe.

It turns failure into learning, mistakes into victories and errors into insight.

Language is an ever-evolving technology. It is dynamic and alive.

Language and meaning are entwined.

There is no intrinsic meaning in any event or experience. How we choose to react to events is what gives things meaning.

All experience is valid, if choose the right meanings.

The right meaning, interpretation or perspective can lead to learning, growth, deeper insight, knowledge, wisdom and more awareness.

We are all sovereign beings; we all choose what meaning we put onto events in our lives.

Language and meaning have a tendency to be habitual. We learn our language and our worldview when we are very young. When we become aware of our personal habits of language either through the expansion of one’s self-awareness or of deeper awareness to the world around us, the habits of our language become a choice.

Language can be used to curse someone, to bless someone, to move someone to tears or rage. It is our very words that create the bonds between ourselves and others.

What words do you habitually use that generate joy in yourself or others?

What words do you use that create disconnection to yourself and others?

I have come to believe the most erroneous word in my vocabulary is the word ‘SHOULD’

‘Should’ implies error, ‘should’’ implies there was a more valid way.

A tradition from Hawaii called Hoʻoponopono is used to practice reconciliation and forgiveness. Only four short statements are used in this foundational practice, these are very powerful words that when spoken with intention (with meaning) have magical properties connected to them..

Can you guess these words?

Thank you

I’m sorry

Forgive me

I love you

Speak these words to yourself; to all the parts of yourself, the lost parts, the scared parts, the confused parts, the wise parts, the sensitive parts, and these words will echo out into your environment and deepen your meaning in the world.

Language is and will always be the foundation of magic. The word ‘Abracadabra’ literally translates as, ‘with these words I create’.

Civilisations are built on the cooperation, collaboration and connection of words between people. Cityscapes start as visions and ideas that find their way to words, to be spoken and shared and felt and embodied.

Language will no doubt play a huge role in the rebuilding of our world.

On words carry an energy, riding the soundwaves through the air is the intention and the felt experience of meaning. Hearing, ‘I love you’ can be felt, like an arrow in the heart, moving us to tears of profound joy and passion. Hearing ‘I hate you’ can be a psycho-physical attack on our bodies, affecting us for hours, days, weeks or more.

Words are owned by no one. Words are our greatest gift. We can literally change our world and our Universe by shifting our vocabulary to be more affirming, more authentic, more embodied.

‘I am’ instead of ‘I will try’ evokes a whole new meaning and a whole new way of being in the world.

‘I can, because’ instead of ‘I should’ shifts the focus from error to potential.

‘I made a mistake’ instead of ‘I am a mistake’, moves from shame to guilt.

Words are the swords of the spiritual warrior

Words can create separation. They have and continue to. Simply look around. The real pandemic is one of separation.

‘Us and them‘, will always divide. ‘Unity’, is world-wide

Let us be mindful of the very words we are using in this incredibly powerful vortex of space-time we call Planet Earth 2020.

‘Be careful of the thought-seeds you plant in the garden of your mind, as seeds grow after their kind’ — George Clinton circa 1974