Words and Concepts: Mental and Rational Traps

 When you look at the picture on the left, what happens?   Perhaps some of you simply view the picture and have a feeling or a body response to it; others may find words and concepts appearing in their minds: thunderstorm, dark, night, lightning and so on.

What if I then drew your attention to a metaphor that a storm is like our mental/emotional inner states and that lightning can represent our nervous system?    Doesn't lightning also look somewhat like our veins and capillaries?

What if I then said that this picture is used by me to represent what goes on inside of us metaphorically and that there are many symbols and realities in nature and the universe that are exactly like we are on in the inside ... if we but stretch our perceptions and paradigms?   Now you may find that your mind wanders in different directions ... or struggles with the concept ... or has already contemplated such things and can shift easily to this view.

In other words, depending on how we think about things, we can view the same thing and experience something entirely different.   This is similar to the meaning in the old saying that a Master (a Master of what? ... there are many things we can Master ... we even have preconceived ideas about what a Master is), can walk into a room and someone may not even see the Master for who they are ... their own judgments, perceptions, views, patterns and thinking gets in the way of seeing what is right before them -- or seeing something in a different or new way.

How about the image to the right?  If we simply look at it,we will receive impressions.  These impressions may be tainted with our previous conditioning and experiences in life.

To a very young child new to the world, this will be a pure experience and feeling ... without judgment, words or labels.   If someone says ... 'Oh, I see you have made a scale.  We use scales to measure things.  See how it balances on each side?'  Now it is becoming a mental concept.  If one has an open mind, it can still hold room for other ways that this symbol can hold meaning, and so there is less rigidity.  This is one way of viewing the saying: "having a child-like mind".  If one tends to be close minded and is more rational, this image may now become an inflexible concept in their mind.  Rigid beliefs are also created this way. 

After many years of seeing this image as a scale or balancing tool, and someone begins to speak of this image in a way we haven't heard before, we can either remain open and 'weigh' out the new info for ourselves without judgment, swallow this new way of viewing it without any contemplation of our own, or reject it entirely.   The question is: Are we aware of what we are doing with this (mentally)?

Here is another image.   This one holds a lot of historical, political, social, and religious significance to us ... depending on our background and culture.  Even so, it is an image that has spread worldwide.   I can say, surely, that if we asked various people all over the world, we would find many ways of talking about the significance of this picture ... depending on whom we ask, of course.   Regardless of what we might believe, there is a true story to this painting ... amidst the many interpretations, stories and histories that are passed around.

Many people asked about this picture above, would say similar things ... due to their exposure to certain religions, experiences and upbringing.  We would also find others that could talk about this image in ways we have never heard.   Concepts, words, beliefs and stories are dependent on many factors.

So the saying goes: A picture speaks a thousand words.   I wonder ... which ones do you entertain?

So what do our words really mean?   Look them up in a really good dictionary.  In there, you will even find root meanings of words going back to the times when we were forming more and more concepts and labels and identifications and classifications of things.   At least you will find a bit more information about the word and can find deeper meanings to some of the things we say every day.  With many words, these deeper meanings stem from a time that held other ways of viewing things.

The words we use attempt to clearly reflect that which we wish to communicate - often at the expense of losing something vital .... something which requires direct experience ... and which often lies more in the realm of the subjective world of the observer.   Read this blog with this in mind too ... these are only words ... attempting to point in certain directions ... the real Work is in the doing.   Everyone who reads this is coming in with their own filters, views, paradigms, mental patterns and histories ... and will go away with different levels of understanding and Knowing about what is discussed here today.


There is still a whole lot more to this; however, as we find that we frequently misunderstand one another and read things without absorbing the essence of what someone is saying ... or what a writer is truly working to express.  How could this not be so ..... we are not that person writing or speaking and there are many things in direct experience that are impossible or challenging to relay with words and concepts.   People reading the same material will also absorb different levels of that material depending on their education, world experience and level of Being.   This is why we can go back to something years later and grasp an entirely new level of understanding due to our own inner changes over time.

Growing up with words and concepts has contributed, in some part, to the deadening of the other ways in which we can innately experience and KNOW things.  Our words and concepts have become rational traps.  This is how people also misunderstand one another -  their words and concepts ... mental and rational traps, interfere with the heart of the matter ... the essence of the matter ... seeing, feeling and sensing the real message.   Communication and Knowing is far more than words.

For a simple example:  We can say things like "Have more confidence in yourself, my dear" ... that sounds fine, superficially.   Now, how are we going to do it?  It is merely a mental concept unless we are able to demonstrate it ourselves ... many people sit in seminars trying to learn how to be more confident!   Surely, the knowledge we can gain from the spoken and written word can lead to a level of understanding and open doors ... it does not mean we have integrated this knowledge into our Being ...

We sometimes read books about how to be more confident (or whatever we have read or taken a course on),  and then walk around repeating the words we have just read - as though we have integrated these things into our being ... when what we really require is direct experience in situations which require us to develop confidence.   This is another example of what I mean when I say that words and concepts can become mental and rational traps.   We also often mistake knowledge for Knowing.  Words and concepts can lead us to misunderstanding, and illusion when not used with wisdom.  Though the example of confidence is a simple one, we can find many more ways in which this is a common occurrence in our world today.

For the most part, our knowledge has outstripped our level of Being.  We can learn to develop both and require the willingness and ability to see ourselves as we really are in order to Work in balance.

We live in a world where words are very important.  We record knowledge in books.  I am not suggesting that it is all meaningless.  Books, seminars and schools have their place ... particularly when they are aware of and stress the various other modalities of learning - like hands on, direct experience and practical application.

For example, one can learn in a seminar, about all the chakras, their colours, their representations etc ... until this knowledge become Knowing through direct experience of Seeing them, feeling the energies in and around them and so on ... this knowledge is superficial ... a mental and rational concept only.   Some people will say that chakras are illusions ... because they never saw one.  Others will go to a course and learn about them and then believe they exist without ever discovering for themselves whether this is really true.  Both are in an illusion ... of different sorts.  This is dangerous ground: for example (one of my favourites):  when people grew up centuries ago, they learned through books and lessons that the world was flat.  Then they went forward in their lives speaking of this as a fact when there was no direct Knowing of whether this was true ... and in that case, it wasn't. 

Who is doing the writing ... who is defining a word?   What is really meant by that word?   Early in my training, I was studying under three different teachers.  I felt confused over certain words that they used.  One teacher said "Take the word 'Need' out of your vocabulary" ... another teacher advised us to use the word Need to express that we have core needs coming the essence of who we really are.  A third teacher divided these expressions into needs, wants and desires ... and used these words in different ways once again.   At first this seemed very contradictory to me.  Then, some time later, I came to see that all three were correct and that they each held a truth expressed in a different way and they were not contradictory to one another at all.   It was all just a word and concept trap.   I had to experience, contemplate and open up to grasp the entire way of viewing these things.  In the end, I was able to apply all three ways with clarity.  


So, who is doing the writing or saying the word?   This is also another useful question.  When we read about something - especially historical, religious and political materials, it is very useful to keep an open mind and remember that we are always reading from a person's adopted viewpoint, paradigm and belief system.   These things define the world we live in ... the way we see it.   It is often necessary to come to understand a person or a system's vocabulary and inner culture before one can truly be closer to understanding what is being communicated.

I am definitely saying that we would benefit from developing awareness about these traps and see the many ways we misinterpret what is seen, written and said.  Knowing that we distort, misunderstand and carry the baggage of our own projections onto words and concepts, we will use them anyway ...  with a greater understanding and openness ... sensing and intuiting ... allowing pictures to form ... and remaining open to direct experience.   In this way, we will not cling to concepts and words alone, but use them alongside our other inherent faculties.

We are more complete when we use all of our ways of knowing: we find much material on the integration of the person ... using both sides of our brain ... left and right side integration: the rational and the creative/intuitive ... yin/yang ... dark and light ... integration allows for the words and concepts without the mental and rational traps which come from an imbalanced way of perception.

This is something you  have the opportunity to experience directly in the Work we do - especially in the movement Arts we teach.  The body does not lie, as we can easily find how we are split and/or out of balance within ourselves as we move ... see ... feel ... reflect on what we are doing ... and how we are in the world in our everyday life too.  There are no words or concepts in certain aspects of the Work we do.  In this way, we learn there is a way to Be without them ... and things can be seen and experienced directly and in new ways (or old ways, really ... which have been forgotten ... not applied).

So ... are we to abandon our words and concepts?  We live in a world where these things exist all around us now ... we are suggesting that developing the awareness of these traps is is both a necessary and useful skill in order to live a fuller life.   Once we do so, we Work to discover what we can Know and Be alongside and beyond them.