We attach meaning to words, and we distort them too. For example, the word brainwashing. Your brain, like your body, needs washing sometimes. You don’t want to walk around with a dirty brain, a dirty mind. What is wrong with the word brainwashing? It indicates a clean brain, a clean mind. But it is used in a derogatory manner.
And the word disillusioned. It is good when you become disillusioned. You are out of the illusion and have come to reality.
And purana. It means that which is new in the town, the most modern. But today it conveys the sense of being very old.
Meanings of words change in the course of time. The word enthused comes from the Greek which means God is with us. Then enthused came to mean crazy, and today the whole meaning of the word has changed again.
Don’t be stuck with words. Your worries are words. Your ideas are words.
Wisdom is beyond words. It is your very Being, the essence of all words. See and relate beyond words. Then there is no lie in your life.
If you manipulate words, it is a lie;
If you play on words, it is a joke;
If you rely on words, it is ignorance;If you transcend words, it is wisdom.
(From the Office of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
© The Art of Living Foundation