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"We say, 'That is a rose,' rapidly look at it and go on. By giving it a name, we think we have
understood it; we have classified it and think that thereby we have understood the whole content
and beauty of that flower.
By giving a name to something, we have merely put it into a category and we think we have understood it; we don't look at it more closely. If we do not give it a name, however, we are forced to look at it. That is we approach the flower or whatever it is with a newness, with a new quality of examination; we look at it as though we had never looked at it before." The First and Last Freedom, p.249 |
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"What is the core from which you name, what is the centre which is always naming, choosing, labelling?"
The First and Last Freedom, p.250 |
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"...if you do not think in terms of words, if you do not use words, can you think?"
The First and Last Freedom, p.250 |
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"If there is no word, no label, there is no centre, is there? There is a dissolution, there is an
emptiness - not the emptiness of fear, which is quite a different thing. There is a sense of being
as nothing; because you have removed all the labels or rather because you have understood why you
give labels to feelings and ideas you are completely new, are you not? There is no centre from which
you are acting. The centre, which is the word, has been dissolved."
The First and Last Freedom, p.251 |
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"...what happens when you do not name? You look at an emotion, at a sensation, more directly and
therefore have quite a different relationship to it..."
The First and Last Freedom, p.251 |
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"If you do not label, you have to regard every feeling as it arises."
The First and Last Freedom, p.252 |
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"It is only when we give names to feelings and thereby strengthen them that the feelings have
continuity; they are stored up in the centre, from which we give further labels, either to
strengthen or to communicate them."
The First and Last Freedom, p.252 |
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"We name not only to communicate, but also to give continuity and
substance to an experience, to revive it and to repeat its
sensations. This naming process must cease, not only on the
superficial levels of the mind, but throughout its entire structure.
This is an arduous task, not to be easily understood or lightly
experienced; for our whole consciousness is a process of naming or
terming experience, and then storing or recording it. It is this
process that gives nourishment and strength to the illusory entity,
the experiencer as distinct and separate from the experience.
Without thoughts there is no thinker. Thoughts create the thinker,
who isolates himself to give himself permanency; for thoughts are
always impermanent."
Commentaries on Living, First Series, p.69 |
