?? Right Speech and the Power of the Word ??

Hello, my friends!

Words are incredibly powerful.

We can use them to align our life with our values, or to create intolerable situations from which we see no escape.

The tricky thing is that our Word paints for ourselves a picture of the world.

And, if we're not aware of it, it can look like the world itself.

Word offers a key to transform our inner relationship with the world. And this reflects into our outer experience.

*

This section is drawn from the Pathways in Consciousness course and follows from yesterday's piece on The Balance in the Lesson.

I hope you enjoy!

*

"This week, we’ve been focusing on the inner workings of the mind.

How we perceive.

How we make meaning.

Hidden judgments and submerged stories.

It’s challenging, to say the least.

*

Most people avoid working in these realms, because they’re tricky and slippery, and they shift around a bit.

One thing can be more than that thing, and not that thing at all, when working with the human mind and individual meaning-making.

But, the cost of avoidance is an unconscious life, lived by unconscious patterns, that feels like it’s not a choice, that it’s just how the world is.

And, on the other hand, to engage with the meaning-making function of our own being is to double-down on the very thing that makes the human being so unique and amazing.

It is our ability to envision and dream.

*

Humans swim in the Dreaming.

The field of quantum consciousness, infinite information. Spirit.

And we tune into these unformed impressions from within.

And then we cloak these things with terms and concepts, making these higher vibrations sensible to our understanding.

In yogic terms, the higher mind, buddhi (3rd eye), receives these informed impressions, and the lower mind, manas (throat chakra), transforms them into concepts and stories.

*

Now, I bring this up at the moment because I’m fully aware that it’s a Herculean task to review every single bit of information that flows through us.

To question and reconsider all our cherished stories and the very foundations of our perception.

It’s all foggy in there and hard to work with.

But thankfully, we can use the practice of right speech, first to become vigilant of our words, and then to the thoughts before and behind the words.

*

This is the power of the word.

Speech, symbols and concepts, crystallize impressions into clear “things”.

Manas crystallizes gestalt into definite concept. Concrete knowledge, framed by our relation to it.

The use of Word lays out the ideas in a thin stream where they can be reviewed and corrections offered when necessary.

The words we tell ourselves, those we learn, they form and shape our perception.

The words we reiterate to ourselves frame our view of the world

Words are powerful, and with great power comes great responsibility.

*

And this is where the practice of right speech comes in.

Don Miguel Ruiz, in his book The Four Agreements, described right speech in the first agreement: Be Impeccable with Your Word.

Words have creative power. And destructive power.

Words form worlds, and they share frequencies from one person – one world – to another.

With right speech, we review all our words before we speak them.

Even, as we become practiced, as they arise in our thoughts.

*

As with all things, these practices can begin with principles.

They later become guided by an inner compass which feels out those things with which you are in alignment, and those with which you are not.

In the beginning, it is helpful to ask yourself the following questions:

Is this thought true, helpful, or kind?

How do I know this thing to be true?

Where did I learn it?

Why do I want to believe it?

How does it serve me?

How does this thought or belief impact my life?

How does it lead me to interact with the world?

Am I on board with those consequences?

Is this belief, perspective, story, expectation, etc., taking me where I want to go?

*

This is a major inner practice, which is offered to you to begin this week, and to carry into all of your future words.

Right speech is a practice of a lifetime.

And it will be awkward at first, as you stop to reconsider, and sometimes forget to start again.

But over time, each time you open your mouth, you will remind yourself to be mindful.

And each time you speak, it will be a product of inner reflection which clarifies and focuses the initial inspiration.

From a place of care, purposeful, clear, and aligned with your values."

*

If you have enjoyed this, you'll love my book, Only Human: an Operating Manual for Seekers and Sensitives.

I also have a free illustrated guide to energy anatomy that I'm happy to share with anyone who's interested.

If you'd like the guide, let me know in the comments below.

Thanks and blessings, beautiful Beings!