The Power of the Word
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. "Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. John 5.24-25
Every word we speak has the potential to create life. The purity of our speech gives birth to pure etheric forces. This affects the quality of our etheric body and relates directly to Right Speech. If we hear the word of Christ it follows that we then speak the word Christ. It is impossible to speak falsely if we hear the word of Christ. John says then we have eternal life. Eternal life is not about longevity or the afterlife; it is about vitality, youthfulness at any stage in our life. Since our etheric forces give shape to our body, if they are alive and vital we will look young and vibrant. This is all the result of Right Speech.
Our growing understanding of spiritual truth – which is the word of Christ, Christ’s language – means that we pass from death to life, which makes our being shine with vitality. We don’t have to tell people that we are studying these truths; they can see the results in our vibrancy. They can also hear the results when we speak because Right Speech becomes a habit.
Right Speech isn’t necessarily nice speech. To speak truthfully we may hurt a person’s pride. However, if it is Right Speech they will recover quickly because the presence of Christ in our words will be soothing.
An honest look at modern speech reveals how our language has deteriorated. Words are used carelessly without conveying the intended meaning. Notice how many times we have to repeat what we say; it is incredible how often people say “I beg your pardon”. Misunderstanding also arises from the myriads of concepts that are part of this so-called information age. It would be more aptly called the mis-information age. Misinterpreted ideas arise because we all make different associations to words.
We are also disinclined to enter into each other where a mutual understanding can arise. Our ego never wants to enter into the other person and truly communicate in a pure way. Fear takes over. It is the I AM, our Christed individuality that is never afraid of losing itself by entering into the other person. Then Right Speech conveys the right meaning.
It is easier to convey the right meaning behind our words if we make use of our imagination when we speak. To use a metaphor to paint a picture of what we mean is the best way to be understood clearly. This will reduce the number of “I beg your pardons?”
When St John begins his Gospel with “In the beginning was the word” he is telling us that speech is bound up with the origin of our being. He then says that this word was with god, and it was a god, and that all things came into being through this god-word. This is a picture of the creative potential of the words we speak. Yet, for the most part we are unconscious of what we create when we speak. Think about the atmosphere in a room when people have argued. Their angry words created that atmosphere.
Can we accept then that when we speak we create a spiritual form? Imagine the difference between the forms that are created when we say something true or something false. (Mr Emoto has made a remarkable demonstration of this in his book, “Hidden Messages in Water.)
Think about when we relate an event, the event already exists in the ether; it happened. If we relate the event truthfully then our version fits snugly into the original event and a strengthening occurs. If our version is not accurate it clashes with the original; the atmosphere is weakened and this deadens our vitality.
Another way to look at this is to think of a dictionary. If we added arbitrary meanings for words in a dictionary, the dictionary would be corrupt. People would look up the meanings and by using them they would further corrupt the language. Language becomes cancerous - but isn’t this the situation we have today?
This corruption of the word through our speech creates a spiritual atmosphere which is as real as the anger in a room. Through Right Speech we create the right atmosphere which in turn strengthens us and give us life and vitality. The motivation for Right Speech echoes in John’s words from Chapter 15: If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. Verse 7