溫故知新 Old wisdom, today’s insight — ONGO
When We First Gave Names to Things
When We First Gave Names to Things asks: Do I use words as mere tools, or as a passage that brings something within me out into the world? It comes from Rigveda 10.71.1: "When people first sent forth the beginnings of speech, giving names to each thing — then what was purest and hidden within them was, through love, at last brought to light."
When people first sent forth the beginnings of speech, giving names to each thing — then what was purest and hidden within them was, through love, at last brought to light.
Is there another poem that draws the birth of language so beautifully — that in the first moment people gave names to things, the purest thing hidden within finally came out.
Do I use words as mere tools, or as a passage that brings something within me out into the world?
📝Reflection
Is there another poem that draws the birth of language so beautifully — that in the first moment people gave names to things, the purest thing hidden within finally came out. Speech is not a mere tool of communication but a passage that brings the inner world out. To name is to divide, to grasp, to relate to the world. I speak thousands of words a day and forget this wonder. If each word I utter brings something within me to light, what am I bringing out into the world today?
🌱Apply It Today
Before you speak today, once, briefly weigh: 'what within me does this word bring out?'
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
