The Right Words

I have been hearing the word “naming” a lot since I became active in Unitarian Universalism. It took me some time to understand what “naming” means, and why the phrase is used so often by religious people.

On the simplest level, “naming” is coming up with words to describe events, feelings and people (including ourselves). “Naming” is inherently religious. How we describe the world has a lot to do with how we understand the world.

Mark Twain once said, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—’tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.”

When we have arrived at the right word to describe something, it feels great. We have communicated what we really mean, gotten close to the truth of the matter, and learned something about how we think or feel in the process.

When we are struggling to find the right word, it is usually not a great feeling. Often, we have difficulty with “naming” when we are emotionally conflicted, when we are afraid to speak the truth, or we are having trouble understanding something.

In religious life, people grow through naming. In the previous post, I wrote about “check-in” as a Unitarian Universalist ritual. On my page over at Street Prophets several people commented in response, and shared rituals from their own traditions that are similar to check-in. These rituals involve naming, as participants describe their experiences to one another.

When we are trying to describe transcendent experiences, “naming” becomes all the more complicated. In the Torah, there is significant discussion of God’s true name, and the various names by which He is known. God’s true name, His “‘personal’ name,” is not to be spoken aloud or written out in Jewish tradition.*

Deep experiences of the sacred transcend all words. And yet, it is important for us to be able to talk to one another about the sacred, especially in religious settings. So how we come up with names for the sacred is an important question–and a very live issue in Unitarian Universalism today.

This week’s posts will explore how Unitarian Universalists are approaching the process of “naming,” and the role of “naming” in spiritual growth.

*I am not an expert on Biblical criticism or Judaism, and welcome comments from readers who can elaborate on this point or provide links to reliable resources about Jewish tradition.