Name

Use of the noun and the confusion of ideas.

Nominalism holds that the name of something bears no relation to the thing itself, and it only connected by the convention of language. Sounds nice...

Most people when questioned will probably agree with that. However I would follow a more Platonic tract and divide language into three categories.

1) Name Form, in which the name of something bears an energetic relation to the thing. So as something comes into manifestation there is knowledge of it, the word which the becomes a subtle manifestation and then comes into manifestation. So if we take the word Kleem, a seed syllable it represents the action of attraction, Kleem attracts the things that surrounds it. If one were to use Kleem with Prem, love, then one would attract love. The original word, a distinguishable power the same as gravity is distinguishable, underlies all manifestation, hence the idea of a seed. Para Vak, is a word that has will to existence from the Absolute. Pashyanti Vak is the word that has knowledge and specifics of the manifestation, the subtle word, and the manifest word is the Vaikhari Vak. On can say Kleem Prem and reverse the process from the spoken word, one can move from the physical body to the subtle body and attract love, in terms of situations/actual events organized for experience (karma, kriya). Sanskrit is a name form language.

2) Sound Form, is the idea that the sound moves the energy. In the name form the vibration of energy that manifests is duplicated by the word. In sound form the word directs the flow of energy in the subtle body. So using the word guru directs the flow energy down to the root, which is the manifestation equivalent of the Para Vak. The consciousness becomes effected by the flow of subtle energy and manifests the effects. Gurumuki is an example of this and blends the name form and sound form languages. Many languages have elements of this especially in the emotional qualities of the words. For instance the English exclamation YEAH!!!

3) Idea Form, languages use words to represent ideas and these are established by convention. They do direct the consciousness in the worlds of the mentality. So for instance concentration on a word in English will produce knowledge of what that word represents. However for the most part it is limited to the inner connection of the person using it. If you say the word kleem it produces a subtle vibration, if you say the word attraction it does not. Attraction however will organize the mind according to the understanding of the user. One will not become a center of attraction as with the word kleem, but will become centered on the idea of attraction. English is an idea form language, though it is based on Latin which in many ways is a name form language.

In England there are different forms of English and though this is confused with social hierarchies there is also some truth as to the proper rhythm and effect of English. Good English will raise the mentality, for instance Latin forms used in science, and poor grades of English, think of rap, and not the words but the rhythm, will lower the mind into more violent emotional states. The social element and resistance to that often make this perception hard to attain and keep clear. It is definitely a power of clairaudiance to hear the vibration level of speech. The Latinate, do you construct or build, do you transmit or send? What about imitate and mock? Just stop and smell the coffee or just desist and partake of the aroma of the java. A strong smell or a delicate aroma?

This paying attention to names is also useful when learning of the different levels of consciousness. Many times we use words without access to experience or realization. For instance we can talk about ananda, but do we feel it? When reading any kind of spiritual writing we have to this awareness that the author may be capable of perceiving or have experiences of which we do not have access. For instance I have heard a Tibetan Lama say that even while being tortured by the Chinese captors he felt nothing, but compassion for his torturer. This is meant literally.

"We may think otherwise, but we are deceiving ourselves; we are making our idea of the Divine, our sense of duty, our feeling for our fellow-creatures, our idea of what is good for the world or others, even our obedience to the Master a mask for our egoistic satisfactions and preferences and a specious shield against the demand made on us to root all desire out of our nature."

Aurobindo, Synthesis Of Yoga, Yoga of Divine Works, p. 222

How much of this quotation is a reference to the experience? Not just reasoning, but the felt expression of egoistic satisfactions, of discovering and witnessing the specious shield? There are times we confuse the abstract understanding of the idea with the actual experience.

This has different aspects, for instance when we start to examine our knowledge of world events, then obviously this is not something in our immediate experience. It would be easy to philosophify our way out or into this problem. But to cut through this problem we need to have a feel for the sense of truth in our perception, the flow of our understanding, and the in the effect and purpose of the knowledge. Assume all arguments are true and that no event doesn't have a purpose and you will find that you will begin to feel all sorts of emotional coloration coming through one's perceptions. Like much criticism is not about the work, but is more telling of the critic.

Many statements are designed to win arguments or to act on the world, effecting people, etc. If we have internalized those ideas and their operations we miss the intent of being open to the truth and the spiritual unfolding. We may be able to gain large descriptive and explanatory power by categorizing and defining, but their still has to be a deeper perceptive faculty of insight with which to support those categories.

"The supreme truths are neither the rigid conclusions of logical reasoning nor the affirmations of creedal statement, but fruits of the soul's inner experience. Intellectual truth is only one of the doors to the outer precincts of the temple.

Satyam mantraha, they who the true thought expressed in the inspired word.
Satya mantra, the true thought expressed in the rhythm of the truth."

Aurobindo