Labeling
When you label something, you exclude information about it. This is because the thing becomes obscured by other information stored under the label for the thing.
If I were to say, "I study magick," this would immediately bring up all the associations and stored data under the label "magick." Some people would
believe I am a stage magician; some people would think I am a Satanist,
while others would decide that I study magick as a historian. Yet none
of these things actually has anything to do with what I would mean
by the word "magick."
When you symbolize something, you impose the deep structure
of the symbol system used on the way you perceive the thing
symbolized. There is a Japanese proverb which relates that to
confusing the Moon with the finger pointing to the Moon.
People tend to believe that they understand something when
they have a name for it. This is called nominalization. It enables
people to take very ill-defined concepts and continuing processes
and talk about them as if they were concrete things. The problem
is that frequently even the users of these terms (names) do not
know what they mean.
| Objective | Subjective |
| I need water. | I need love. |
| This book is green. | This book is spiritual. |
| I am a mammal. | I am an illuminated being. |
Nominalization is am important tool.
However, we must realize when we are using it.
Metaphysics
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