Pure Magic

“The power of the word is completely misused […] We use the word to curse, to blame, to find guilt, to destroy. Of course, we also use it in the right way, but not too often. Mostly we use the word to spread our personal poison – to express anger, jealousy, envy, and hate. The word is pure magic – the most powerful gift we have as humans – and we use it against ourselves. We plan revenge. We create chaos with the word. We use the word to create hate between different races, between different people, between families, between nations. We misuse the word so often, and this misuse is how we create and perpetuate the dream of hell. Misuse of the word is how we pull each other down and keep each other in a state of fear and doubt. Because the word is the magic that humans possess and misuse of the word is [destructive] magic, we are using [destructive] magic all the time without knowing that our word is magic at all.”

extract from The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz