All Words Are Incantations, Casting A Spell On All Who Speak And Hear Them
Every “system I’ve ever come across has jargon it uses that marks out what’s most special within it.
In NLP (neurolinguistic programming) there is the magic of “WHY?” … that which should not be spoken.
In General Semantics the word “IS“ becomes the evil to be avoided … freezing the world into perpetual slumber.
Gurdjieff’s 4th Way and “The Work” locked onto “I“ … pointing to the ego and the need to find the true “I“ hidden within.
Zen priests and practioners often speak of “Not-Doing“ … and in doing that achieving Satori or Enlightenment.
There are many other systems I could be pointing to that recognize and use the power of words, or magical phrases to both unlock the mystery, awe and wonder of the Universe for their followers … and in doing so lock them into the system.
But this cannot be helped until the system fulfills the role of unleashing what is hidden in plain sight … the simplicity of Being and Doing, i.e.: Being and Becoming who you already are … and letting the Universe be what it is,including all the other folks milling around in it.
‘Course this could all get very philosophical, or worst start sounding all spiritual … but,
This ain’t That!
The MythoSelf Process & Soma-Semantics
In the system I’ve been architecting for years now I too have stumbled upon Magical Phrases … if you were to ask a few students I’ve worked with along the way I’m sure you’d come across a bunch of ’em.
I do however want to revisit a particular Magical Phrase that I think of as a core concept in the model I’ve been designing and building out.
“ENOUGH“
I’ve been writing a lot about “NOTHING“ recently, and for now I’m going to leave that Magical Phrase alone.
I haven’t written much about “ENOUGH“ recently … and I think it’s time to reconsider how important it is for getting the essential benefit the MythoSelf Process model has to offer.
“ENOUGH“ may be the most misunderstood word in modernity, because for most folks it doesn’t exist.
“ENOUGH“ is like a ghost … something you think may exist, and may even believe you’ve glimpsed from time to time, but not something you can really nail down and come to terms with.
Building and nurturing a healthy relationship with “ENOUGH seems to be something that only the very old and the very wise seem to be able to do.
So here’s the simple question for ‘ya …
How much is ENOUGH?
- -How much is enough money?
- -How much is enough fame?
- -How much is enough love?
- -How much is enough autonomy?
- -How much is enough power?
- -How much is enough influence?
- -How much is enough recognition?
- -How much … how much … how much …
Most people cannot answer even one of these questions for themselves. That’s the power of “ENOUGH“ in their lives … it’s overwhelming!
You may be thinking, “Hey wait a second Joseph … you’re really writing about ‘NOT ENOUGH’ here!” … but it’s really the lack of getting “ENOUGH“ that I’m on about.
Resetting the “ENOUGH” Switch
Let’s begin again …
STEP ONE:
What if you conceded for argument’s sake that whatever you now have is “ENOUGH … regardless of how much or how little that is right now.
Think about it …
Run through the first question above … and come up with an answer regarding what you now have … in the very moment, as you’re reading this … and decide (just for now) that it is “ENOUGH“ … and let that sink in … then move onto the next question and repeat the process until you’ve completed my list.
(NOTE: When you get to: -How much … how much … how much … … just put in THIS … THIS … THIS …“ referencing what is immediately present in the moment to you.)
How’s that feel? (You really have to take the 90 seconds it takes to do the mental exercise to know.)
When you can instantiate how much is ENOUGH with a concrete example from your life … even if you’re just playing along … does it change how you feel about how much “ENOUGH is for you?
(By the way … if you should get stuck on any of the particulars as you’re answering the question/s think about how come that particular thing/concept catches you.)
STEP TWO:
Okay now do the mental exercise and change the questions to read in your mind “How much is MORE THAN ENOUGH?” … and put in the same answers as before.
How does it feel to know you have “MORE THAN ENOUGH“ – maybe for the very first time?
If you really did the exercise in your mind … projecting the expereince all the way into your body … you would have already had some shift in the Soma-Semantic response to what is “ENOUGH.”
So if you haven’t run through it all quickly again … this time noticing for the shift in your felt experience (that’s in your body) … and notice how that shift impacts how you think about the word (i.e.: “ENOUGH“).
This is the way you being taking control of the “Magical Phrases“ in your life (believe me there are others … try these on for size:
- -Fairness
- -Justice
- -Respect
- -Honor
- -Honesty
- -Loyalty
- -Fidelity
there that should get you starting thinking again …)
STEP THREE:
Okay … we’re almost done for the day …
Just one last thing … start at “NOTHING“ then ask yourself all the questions about How much …” again.
I’m betting the answer/s will be interesting.
MORE?
A society/culture that doesn’t have a grasp of the concept of “ENOUGH“ will be unlikely to ever be able to satisfy itself … creating the need for an unending stream of “MORE“ … and the will to take (read: “steal”) what they desire from others, leaving them without.
We live and have lived in the state of “NOT ENOUGH“ for all of modernity … and probably for long before that too. It is difficult to find an example of an entire society or culture that has attained and absorbed the concept of “ENOUGH.”
So, we live with war, famine, genocide … the horrors of the human condition … and we choose to do nothing about them … often feeling powerless in the face of “MORE … MORE … MORE …“ and the brutal competitiveness that demands of us all.
Learning the Hobbesian way … that “(the) life (of man) is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. leading ultimately to a “war of all against all“ (“bellum omnium contra omnes“).
The philosopher Thomas Hobbes sought a politically-based solution, based in government and central control.
However, what I’m proposing is a bit different … instead of trying to change or alter an entire society or culture, beginning with just one person … yourself … and beginning with and from “NOTHING” … such a “Magical Phrase“ that one.
All the best,
Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.
Princeton, NJ
PS –
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Dagfinn Reiersøl says
Hi Joseph, I wanted to mention that there’s another phrase I’ve heard from you only a couple of times recently that’s magical to me. It’s “showing up”. I don’t really know why.
Thomas says
whats the expression I’m looking for here, hmmm, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot, lol.
Awoke says
Stop Writing just for me:)
Ham says
Joseph,
I have spoken at length in the past about the post-scarcity world that numerous science fiction authors have alluded to. Roddenberry’s humanistic Star Trek vision, using replicators, is an interesting one to me, in that we are approaching the earliest stages of this now with commercially available 3D printers, a technology I have avidly followed for 12 years now.
Like many disruptive technologies – electricity, web services, video cameras, plumbing, telephones, personal computers – there is an initial stage where the technology is an expensive luxury commodity, tightly controlled by a few companies, and over time that technology moves to become adopted by the mainstream and then ultimately becomes a utility service. This will happen with 3D printing, accompanied with all the bitching and whining, and attempts at government/legal control that all those previously mentioned technologies enjoyed in their time. Companies who once held manufacturing as their profit model will cease to exist as this moves from their realm to the realm of individuals. This will lead to an age of wonder.
And whilst I would hope that we would become as a global community, elevated in our value sets and sense of “enough” I strongly suspect that every freakin’ white trash/chav/bogan (American/English/Australian terms for the same entity) will sit around printing more and more and more and more and…
Now, I’m a man who has up until now, believed that sacrificing my needs for a greater good is something I am happy with, to a certain degree, and I wonder how I will behave in a world where I can print out whatever I want. Sure, this is going to be wonderful that we can print food (thank you Homero Cantu) for the world and houses and electronics and body parts and platinum and titanium and I have no idea which way we will go. Our reach already extends our grasp in some domains, and I honestly have no idea what will happen and whether we will temper ourselves or not.
“Like this” of course, I know what I want and that’s really not much at all. When I am “like this” all I want is to do a certain thing and there are still bills to pay. And how lucky am I that I can use the internet in a foreign land and enjoy so much. I wonder what life will be like in a world where money is irrelevant, where notions of social justice are altered because of, effectively, the distribution of infinite wealth.
With such brief lives, I totally get why people want more, to luxuriate in hedonism to want more. I get why Rumsfeld (hey, I couldn’t resist it) is happy to exploit people in his quest for more money, more power, I totally get it. Why wouldn’t people behave in this way, when they are here for 80 years or so? I don’t know what lies beyond this plane, I’ve had no personal direct experience of a supernatural domain. I don’t have any belief in an afterlife, given the rather poorly written propaganda in various religious texts, so I am not altering my behaviours based on those. And yet I choose to behave in a certain way where enough is enough. To be doing what I love day in day out IS enough, these are the memories that I will look back on and enjoy, knowing that it wasn’t the cars or the houses or the jets that gave richness to my life; it was the smile on my daughter’s face and the silliness of my son and that’s enough.
Hmmmm… maybe I’m just getting old. This is a big conversation for another time perhaps and I’d welcome engagement in any forum. I’ve diverted off topic and I appreciate the provocation.
T says
Hi,
If I’m poor and no resources and I occupy enough soma-semantically then I have enough. If I’m extremely wealthy and I occupy enough soma-semantically then I have enough. Is there a need for a critical mythological assessment? No for the extremely wealthy and no for the poor. Who then looks upon these two positions to give some additional perspective and information for getting exquisitely more from the base line of having exquisitely enough?
Love the posting and the growth that it provokes….
T