Words Words Words Words

Words, words, words, words, how imprisoning they are if they’re not used properly. There are words that do not correspond to reality at all. They are conventions, things that are invented, but we don’t realize that they don’t correspond to reality. There are thousands of these words in our vocabulary that do not correspond to reality, but they trigger misperceptions or upsetting emotions in us! So we begin to see things that are not there.

Transcript

Mark Twain put it very nicely once when he said, Cold, He says, If the thermometer had been an inch longer, We would have frozen to death. That's pretty accurately put, You know. We do freeze to death on words. It's like, It's not the cold outside that matters, But the thermometer. It's not reality that matters, But what you're saying to yourself. You know, They told me a lovely one about a guy in Finland. You know, When they were drawing up the Russian-Finland border, It was a farmer who had to decide whether he wanted to be in Finland or Russia as they were drawing the boundary line. So after a long time, He said he wanted to be in Finland. Why did he want to be in Finland? And the guy says, You know, It has always been my desire to live in mother Russia, But at my age, I wouldn't be able to survive another Russian winter. So I want to be in Finland. That brings it out very well, Doesn't it? It's only a word. It's only a concept. But it isn't. Not for human beings, Not for crazy human beings. There was a man who once attacked a guru, The master, For claiming this, That human beings were mostly reacting to words, Not to reality. One of the men, He said, I don't agree that words have all that effect on us. And the master said, Sit down, You son of a bitch. And the man went livid with rage. Words, How valuable they are, How imprisoning if they're not used properly. Will liberate us from words.

Reviews

I absolutely love Anthony de Mello and his 'words'.

Thank you ❤️

My takeaway: good storytelling to convey the message. Mark Twain quote, if the thermometer had been any longer we'd have frozen to death. The person driven to action by responding to the insult. :) KEY: 5*Insightful 4*Interesting 3*Okay 2*Not For Me 1*Irritating

Good!

Wonderful! I'm still laughing! 🤣