Words, Certainty, and Boundlessness
I recently came across a quote by Sadhguru that said, “People have fallen in love with words and lost the world.” This statement resonated with me as I have been thinking about the relationship that I have with words. Sometimes, I struggle to find language for many things in life. I used to think maybe I just wasn’t good at speaking—partly because of my socially anxious parts and partly because I never saw myself as a quick thinker and expansive in my vocabulary. While this is only partly true, over the years, I’ve started to see that certainty and absolution can feel limiting, and perhaps the struggle has also to do with the depth of what something can mean to me.
There’s beauty in words; they can convey so much, and some people have a way with them that comes from the heart, creating a sense connection. It’s artistic and poetic to use words in a meaningful way. Words play a crucial role. They help us create structure, organize our experiences, and help us feel a sense of belonging. They can provide us with direction for order, offering a way to make sense of the chaos and to move forward with some stability. They help us connect with others, with ourselves, and other’s words help us generate ideas and begin meaningful conversations. Words are essential in communication and discovery.
What Sadhguru was referring to was seeing words, the spoken language, and labels as the only source of reality. That maybe there’s a glorification of words for the sake of them being words—where they become rigid labels instead of something alive. In those instances, I sense that we can lose the magic of our own senses and trust in ourselves, replacing it with a kind of reverence for words and labels alone. Certainty offers a kind of ease, allowing us to navigate without so much chaos, yet at times, it seems like an illusion. We can’t even fully understand the origins of life, yet we often try to contain and define things so neatly, as though that’s possible.
Take “boundaries,” for example. We hear the word, and it’s often applied like a one-size-fits-all solution, without attention to the nuances and implications of each situation. It’s so important to explore the relationship we have with words. Okay, I need to set boundaries because that’s what I’m told is healthy. Here’s an example of hearing words and making assumptions about them. But what if we took a step back and asked: What does it feel like to say, “I want to set boundaries”? What does it feel like to actually set them? What do boundaries mean to me? Does this idea fit with what I want in my life? How can I apply it in a meaningful and intentional way? And also—this can change over time. What are the implications?
Words and the lessons they carry can be incredibly helpful, and they hold even more power when we include our own senses, feelings, and intuition in the process. How do we communicate without losing the magic? With intention that involves more than just language, thought, and words. We communicate through words, but silence, experience, sensation, feeling, and thought hold just as much potential to enrich the experience of living. When we start to live strictly by words and believe only in what’s been defined for us, we risk losing something essential.
Words are powerful. For many, they’re a beautiful art form, a way of being. When spoken or written with intention—while understanding the audience—words create a meaningful exchange, fostering connection and learning through each person’s expressed ideas. My take away from Sadhguru is that words don’t have to define our lives. Words are most meaningful and impactful when they transcend their own literal definition and become an experience to be felt.
