prayer from the cell: already free

Language is often used not just to articulate our mysterious world, but to control it. No matter how fearsome the Other is that we encounter, as long as we can name It we can to some extent control It, or at least control our own fears of It.

I have been thinking about how controlling my language has been. I was within a power called The Church. I was a part of its Authority Structure. Suddenly I am not. I have more clarity now on how enmeshed I was in its manipulative language. I was not only enmeshed, but I was a collaborator in the maintenance of its power and authority.

Is language the primary tool of institutional control? And how can we remove the spirit of control from our speech?

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