Why ‘Unpack’ a Word? by Elektra Porzel
What does it mean to unpack words? At first, it sounds nonsensical. We know what words mean! From our first words, we learned the meaning of words from our parents, our communities, and our society. In grade school, we learned to spell words and find out how many syllables they had. We searched for synonyms or antonyms. Yet, school did not give us all the meanings that a word has for us. Life did. Words are loaded with cultural norms and memes. We navigate our lives around these innocuous and sometimes heavily loaded words without being conscious of the impact of these varied meanings of words on how we view and live life.
Many words can carry both life-enhancing and life-defeating meanings for us. Take ‘love’ for example. For many people this could be cuddles with their babies, as well as rejection by a lover. So every time the word ‘love’ is spoken it brings these polar opposites of memories/experiences/emotions with it. Thus, what each word conjures up for an individual is the source of much of our miscommunications both within ourselves and with others. We use historical meanings of words to determine how we will react to an other person in the present moment. We bring ‘our own’ meaning of each word into the conversation and so does the ‘other’. No wonder communication is always a problem! In ‘unpacking’ we seek new meanings and new comprehensions of the possibilities of a word, a concept, or an idea through both individual and group process.
So what is unpacking? Following the dictionary definition, it means ’to separate and remove things packed; To open and remove the contents of.’ We ‘unpack’ words to discover all the other possible meanings that a word can have for us, and to choose how we want that word to operate in our lives now and in the future. We use it to discover the larger matrix of unity within which that word/idea/concept can function. Unpacking helps us comprehend what we are newly discovering about how we (humans, non-humans, earth, the universe) are inter-related, interactive and interdependent. How do we create greater stamina, strength and capacity to live life in these new perspectives? The unpacking is part of that process.
I know of two ways to dramatically shift the meaning of a word for yourself. One way is through unpacking which starts with personal introspection, weaves into a group process of exploration and discovery and then back and forth in an infinity loop as we experience living in the reality that we craved. The other way is to write the Language of Creation Template 3 ‘Craving what x is for me‘, for exp. ‘Craving what love is for me is’. This template offers us a way to write life-generating and life-enhancing phrases for any word that carries life-defeating meanings. (If you are not familiar with the LOC creation templates, read Tantra Maat’s ‘Language of Creation’, available at http://iuwcinstitute.com/product-category/books/)
In the Tools to Thrive calls starting in March 2018, we began a process of ‘Unpacking’ terms that are used in Tantra Maat’s Spirals of Being, where we are seeking to comprehend living in direct link with Creation in a reality of Unity. If you are a non-Spiral member, these conversations can be of use to you as well. What is unity? What are its principles? What does it mean to be Unique and essential, or a Field Being? What is a Direct Link and how is it experienced? The presenters are not the source of our wisdom on these calls. They simply start the conversation. It is everyone who participates and brings their bit of insight and perception to the discussion. After all, we are all part of the matrix of the reality of unity and, like the 5 blind men seeking to comprehend the whole of an elephant, each of us is seeking to comprehend the whole of Unity while having a smaller access of experience of unity at the moment.
Join us to walk around each of these terms, feeling the possibilities that these different perspectives offer you. Like the blind men, we start with our own limited perspective. Then we step back and take in the larger matrix within which that word/idea/concept can function differently. Then we try on this new comprehension, and experience how it strengthens us to perceive and function more easily in the reality of unity.
This is a free Zoom call. We offer both presentation and lots of time for discussion. Register at https://my.sendinblue.com/users/subscribe/js_id/31uyx/id/4
