Spiritual effects of swearing and why to speak softly instead of loudly

Haha this is pretty great Freya and I think it's real. I can also attest to the opposite being true. I had virtually not uttered a bad word until I was 28, and then allowing myself to do just that was sooo... liberating. Not a habit I'd recommend, but to allow yourself if the urge comes is also spiritual. Maybe it's the "getting the urge" that is tied to ego, but once it is there, expression is part of the releasing of it in order to let it go.

Allowing ourself to express if different ways and knowing it does not change who we are is good.

Isnt all language created from the ego?

swear words are just words the same as any others, some of them werent even swear words originally, people just started to put negative meanings and connotations behind them

anyways, i try not to swear too much these days, but well for me i think its the thought or emotion or intention behind a word thats important, we can say some insulting or cutting things without ever uttering a swear word

They way I see it, cursing is good. When you feel bad, just get that shit out and it'll help you feel better. And when I curse to express feelings, it makes me laugh which is always good for mind, body, and spirit. So fuck it

@Armine and PR, there is actually research on the positive effects of swearing: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201205/hell-yes-the-7-best-reasons-swearing

@Night It's true that the intent behind the word can make any word bad; one doesn't need swear words in order to commit verbal violence. Nonetheless, profanity has such power precisely because it has a long history of associations. Words, like everything else, gain meaning through association. Cursing has a long history, and the negativity within the words are "unpacked" when we hear or read those words. Or speak them, as a study from the University of Bristol demonstrates -- actual swear words, as opposed to euphemisms, can produce a physical stress response....

Bowers wired volunteers up to a machine that would assess their stress levels by measuring their sweat. He then asked them to say swear words and their euphemisms aloud.

Even though everyone involved had volunteered for the study and was fully briefed as to what was involved, and therefore presumably not likely to be offended, participants showed higher stress levels when they were asked to swear than when asked to state the common euphemism.

Bowers says the difference in stress levels between swear words and euphemisms shows that we don't only respond to the meaning of a swear word.

The study also shows that word forms, not just meanings, influence our perception of them (I guess this is related to how people dislike words such as "moist" for example), though I'd argue that it has more to do with the negativity incorporated within cussing than with "linguistic relativity". http://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/oct/03/research-demonstrates-language-affects-behaviour

For me, probably the most impressive demonstration of how negative language affects the world around us comes from Masaru Emoto's famous rice experiment:



Dr. Emoto placed portions of cooked rice into two containers. On one container he wrote “thank you” and on the other “you fool”. He then instructed school children to say the labels on the jars out loud everyday when they passed them by. After 30 days, the rice in the container with positive thoughts had barely changed, while the other was moldy and rotten.

from http://thirdmonk.net/mind-spirit/philosophy/masaru-emoto-rice-emotions-experiment-video.html

Needless to say, swearing has an adverse impact on our environment. When someone swears the potent negative meanings of the word are triggered in the subconscious minds of those who do it and those listening... and any rice that happens to be around

Obviously it is not only swear words we need to worry about: there is a lot more to the "right speech" set out by Buddhism than simply committing to not swearing.

"And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, abstaining from divisive speech, abstaining from abusive speech, abstaining from idle chatter: This, monks, is called right speech." - Magga-vibhanga Sutta, available in translation here: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn45/sn45.008.than.html

Just before I forget --

Talking to Plants - and the related phenomenon of plants and classical music


@2:26

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/5080991/Prince-of-Wales-talked-to-plants-scientists-test-if-it-works.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-478558/So-Charles-right--talk-plants-scientists-discover.html (despite this article, the positive effects of talking to plants are actually still debated but...)

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429980-400-root-intelligence-plants-can-think-feel-and-learn/ (related to our earlier thread on plants)

http://www.dovesong.com/positive_music/plant_experiments.asp (truly fascinating experiment -- Schoenberg, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin bad for plants [they died], but plants "liked" the "middle-of-the-road" and tonal classical music)

For a sample of Schoenberg vs. Palestrina:


Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire


Palestrina, Missa Papae Marcelli

I think for me it's a bit of an egg or chicken scenario- if I start cursing a lot means I am already on a lower wavelength, because I am irritated about something. It's rare that I curse while feeling happy about everything. So it's more like a warning bell for me that I must do something to raise my vibration.

Yup lunar I see what you mean. It's caused by low vibes, and to continue doing it past the point of brief expression means to perpetuate it. One feeds the other.