Liberation/Salvation Confusion

It is interesting that even though humans are supposed to be a rational species as compared to the other animals, still in our day to day interactions that claim is put to question. Most of this begins with word meanings and assumptions, through which we hold conversations and discussions, without first defining our vocabulary.

If for instance I begin speaking or writing about enlightenment, someone may chime in but without first getting clarification of my meanings. That other person may assume that his or her meaning is the same as mine.

The rational thing to do is to first clear the air by understanding and accepting my meaning of a term. I should in turn get clarification about the other person’s ideas. For a sane discussion, if my meaning for liberation is different, the other person could come to an understanding that we are not speaking coherently and should abandon the discussion.

An example of this is the two persons who spoke of a red mango. One man saw the mango a few days before the discussion but to him the word mango did not apply to the fruit he saw because in his language mango was amla and mango itself as a word which meant a white moon.

As they conversed the other man kept insisting that mangoes were definitely red. They argued about if it was white or red. They parted company with resentments towards each other simple because of a vocabulary difference and the failure to come to terms with each other’s terminology.

What is liberation to you?

Do you feel that the way you define liberation is the same as the definition of other persons?