Great Construction

A Few Remarks on the Spirit of Speech

     In the Christian Bible is the idea that in the beginning was the Word through which all things were created, and this refers to the activity of the spirit of speech. In this regard, I will start by explaining with the fundamentals of the spirit of speech. The spirit of speech is composed of and emitted through the activity of the sound, tongue, lips, and jaws of the human being. The basis for production is thought that is expressed through words. Thought is a manifestation of will or volition. Stated in plain terms, thought is activated when some kind of volition or will occurs in human beings and that volition or will is manifested in words. Naturally, within the activity of thought functions the discernment between right and wrong, good and evil, justice and injustice. The result of the combination of all these elements is wisdom. Wisdom and its attending elements embodied is the spirit of speech. The spirit of speech embodied is activity or behavior. In line with this structure, it is not mistaken to consider that thought, spirit of speech, and deed form three levels.
     As such, thought belongs to the world of spirit; the spirit of speech belongs to the world of the spirit of speech, and deed belongs to the world of phenomenon, that is, the physical world. The spirit of speech is midway between the spirit and the physical. The spirit of speech could be said to be an intermediary between thought and deed. Given this position, it can be appreciated how much significance there is in the spirit of speech.
     The spirit of speech, like the manipulations of a puppeteer, is free to generate an ogre or produce a buddha. Whether people are made to be fearful, made to laugh, to worry, to be put at ease, made sad, happy, whether to cause ripples, make peace, be caused to fail or made to succeed, all depends on the spirit of speech. There is nothing more dangerous than taking careless or rash advantage of such an important element as the spirit of speech.
     Important as the spirit of speech is, however, no matter how skillfully the spirit of speech may be manipulated, it is only a skill, the same as is used by raconteurs, comedians, or professional storytellers. As long as energy is not exerted on the basis of the spirit of speech, it means nothing. To speak of energy, however, there is a distinction between good and evil. That is, an evil spirit of speech forms crime, and a good spirit of speech creates virtue, so human beings should make an effort to use a good spirit of speech. Love and sincerity are of course the basis for good spirit of speech. Because love and sincerity come from God, God has to be acknowledged. Therefore, if not a believer, true love and sincerity cannot manifest, so there is no way that spirit of speech can exert good energy.

Unpublished manuscript, 1950
    translated by cynndd