Sitting back, do you remember the time you were taught your name?

Something that was so foreign but had since become part of you.

A shaping of sound that was decided and bestowed upon you. Then we gradually learn to respond to it and attach all sort of emotion and feelings to it.

The power of naming something is to make it become real when it wasn’t as real….

Recall the time when we stare out from our new abode / body with wonder at the world around us? Remember the new senses that we first experience in this world? Remember how we were conditioned to respond to our name?

Name is practical in our daily life. Without name, how would you tell someone that you want a glass of warm milk or call out to your friend in a crowd?

Unfortunately, the way name works for us, is that we soon forget that things in this world are just collection of factors.

We become attached or accustomed to the name so much that we make a situation, an object, a mental state locked in our definition / expectation. We prevent or fear further change. That is a form of imprisonment.

A wooden Buddha statue becomes the Buddha. So much so that people rather freeze to death than convert that statue back to wood for fuel to warm themselves.

Can the same thing apply to mental condition?

Have you met people who says they are impatient and take pride in their impatience? People who take pride in their short temper? People who says their mind can never quiet down for meditation? People who are constantly paranoid that others are dishonest and haboring ulterior motives to harm them or their love ones? These people take pride in their personality.

That is the power of naming. Once we put a label to something and choose to belief that something is fixed, then we are trapped by ourselves.

From this perspective. If we apply wisdom correctly, happiness can be found and there is still room for changes. To be free, we must not be the one imprisoning ourselves.