The Power of Language
What did she say?
Every day at Sir James Douglas, an elementary school in Victoria, the principal repeats three phrases after the announcements: “Work hard, learn lots, and do something kind for someone else.” At first, when I heard this gentle admonition coming out of the P.A. for the second or third time, I thought, “Who’s really listening to that message?” Perhaps our parents had similar words of advice or caution for us, which we received on countless occasions and did our best to ignore. It’s easy to tune out the familiar, even when we know it might be helpful. And yet, I think there’s a way that a message like “Do something kind for someone else”, repeated to the point of becoming just a series of sounds, devoid of meaning, actually does carry some latent energy. I don’t know if the principal recognizes the power of her words, but I suspect her intention in repeating the phrases is based on a hunch—an intuition that repetition takes words (and the ideas they represent) into the mind and body, past the conscious aspect of thinking, right into the heart.
I grew up in Vancouver, where I attended a school for girls. I began in Grade One and returned every September for twelve years. The school motto was “Not for ourselves alone.” These four words showed up in the school song as well, which I remember singing with great gusto at assemblies and special occasions. I never thought about the meaning in those words and what impact they might have had on me until I began to practice and study Buddhist meditation. Many of my teachers speak about the importance of dedicating one’s practice for the welfare and benefit of others. Joseph Goldstein invites his students to begin a period of practice by orienting the heart to the truth of interconnectedness. Dzogchen teacher, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, refers to the precious bodhicitta, a Pali and Sanskrit word that means “awakening heart” and refers specifically to a mental attitude of service and dedication to the welfare of all beings.
Language powerfully influences our thinking. Slogans, mottoes, mantras, prayers and incantations—these words or phrases sum up a mental attitude. By repeating them we take them in. How are we affected by the language we use everyday? How does that language shape our thinking and prepare us for our lives? In my own case, it’s just possible that the feeling of recognition I experienced when I first encountered the Buddhist teachings was connected to my school motto, “Not for ourselves alone”, engraved in my mind-body-heart through years of repetition.