“The Map is Not the Territory” Alfred Korzybski

I know from long experience that each person who reads my words will understand them differently, so I simply write from the depth of my own experience and integrity. I also write with a great deal of care, intention, attention to grammar, and attention to the energetic and emotional impact of my words.

I discovered that I was enchanted with words as art forms, not words as Truth.

I learned the distinction between judgment and discernment. Judgment was making someone else wrong. Discernment was noticing the effect another person’s words and actions had on my own Soul, Spirit, and Energy Field.

I learned that when words are used, not as Truth, but as energetic vehicles to open up minds and transform lives and cultures, they became fascinating toys to play with, take apart, and put together again in new ways that open doors tounderstanding, clarity, and evolution. Words, well used, have the power to offer those who hear or read them exciting new options for navigating life’s challenges.

I do feel driven to get what I understand about words and transformational experiences out into the world. And yes, it feels as if this is my life purpose.

How I do it is not set in stone. It’s more like alchemy. What I say or write depends on context, environment, and the human players. The words keep shifting as context, environment, and human players shift.

The particular words are irrelevant except in specific experiential contexts. The energy and understanding that lie beneath the words are vital.

• If you begin with and explore Alfred Korzybski’s famous statement, “The map is not the territory,” you ultimately realize that words are nothing more than maps of experiential territory. You also realize that words almost always separate and divide: high/low; good/bad; right/wrong, etc.
• Experience doesn’t separate and divide. It just is. Our minds may choose to call it joyous or painful, but the experience itself just is what it is.

We humans fight over whose map is right and whose map is wrong; whose words are right and whose words are wrong. We don’t need to do that. Instead, we can use our words consciously to set intentions about the kind of world in which we want to live, and together, co-create that world so that all humans feel respected and all needs are met as well as humanly possible.