#onlanguage — Public Fediverse posts

3/3 #OnLanguage Saying what I mean & removing harmful religious terminology from my speech.
Bless means bloody. I sometimes replace bless with the word bliss. The roots of bliss are joy, gladness, kindness. I can invoke Bliss upon my life.

This attention to minute word choices is my mindfulness; I can even say my faith. I strongly believe that language concepts interweave with thought. How we word something commingles with how we perceive our world and therefore what is possible.

Bliss you!

2/
Pray · I ask myself if I can pray in my “new religion.” I go to the etymology. Pray is to ask. I dislike that so I don’t pray. Meditate is related to remedy, care, attend to. I can do that.
Bless · Past study of Romance languages helps my relationship with words. (English is a hybrid using a great deal of Latin rooted words.) I know that blessé means injured and sure enough the word bless is related to blood. There is no place for blood sacrifice in my religion so bless is out…

#OnLanguage

More on mindful word choice and removing religious terminology from my evolving personal lexicon (see previous #2023inReview #OnLanguage toots):
For a while I’ve joked about starting my own religion @humanissome. [But spiritual growth is personal. Every religion and cult likely contain some good ideas that are corrupted by greedy ambition—true in business and politics too.] As I build my personal religion from scratch I search for terms to use.
Pray · I ask myself if I can pray.
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#2023inReview #OnLanguage continued
Saying What I Mean & Meaning What I Say:
* worship (see previous toot)
When a questionably loaded word occurs to me I look it up paying particular attention to etymology. I believe words have lives — and like other living things are made by nature and nurture. The nurturing of the word “worship” is not optimal, but its nature derives from “worth,” a highly favored word for me. I do feel it’s accurate to say that I worship words. (Yes this is how I think!)
🙏🏻