A Grain of salt on Languaging and ego

This is hearsay, and I can’t find any valid sources to back up this specific claim, so I will redact some information.

But I heard in passing that there was an indigenous tribe that had no word for ‘I’ or ‘myself’ or ‘ego’.

And I also heard that the tribe referred to Mother Earth as ‘The part of me that I walk on’.

The important reason why I want to share this is because the language and words we use shape our perspective and how we see the world. If we see the Earth as a part of us, then we treat it with respect and forgiveness like self care. We would also be closer to a more unified consciousness approach.

If we were to not have words for ‘I’ or ‘myself’ or ‘ego’, then we would do things with relation to not our selfish desires, but rather based on the actions and movements of the group. We would essentially be un-self-aware cogs in the machine, a tribal communal consciousness, and we would lack our own individual agency or sovereignty.

Not having a word for ‘I’ or ‘myself’ results in a lack of self-awareness, which has both positive and negative consequences.

For instance, a lack of boundaries may exist if we can’t distinguish what is our own vice what is others. If someone is a treacher and a manipulative self aware being, they could usurp the group and become a tyrannical ruler playing gossip games and rumor mills with lies unfettered.

That’s partially why it’s important to seek the wisdom of a shaman or a clever fellow in the tribe, and to ensure that the dynamics between the people are met with their own checks and balances.

In talk therapy, ‘I’ statements are very powerful in allowing people to express themselves and to empower them in taking ownership over their feelings and the degrees of control over a situation that they do have power over.

Epilogue;

I just wanted to share something I heard in passing, and this goes on to say that the specific words we use shape our understanding of the world. That’s also why people in different languages see, think, and feel differently towards people or the world when using other languages.