The Name You Choose

Quick experiment. Two shapes. One soft and round like a cloud. The other sharp and jagged like broken glass. One is boua. The other Kiki without thinking which is which. We probably chose like almost everyone. Psychologist WV Kurler ran the first version of this experiment back in 1929. In 2001, researchers Ramachandran and Hubard tested this question. About 95% of subjects named the round shape Boua, the jagged one, Kiki. In 2022, it was repeated with 917 speakers of 25 languages and 10 different writing systems. It held for most. Even toddlers of two and a half do it. So, what does it mean? A word sound isn't random. One leading explanation, the lips round on Boua and the tongue strikes sharply on Kiki. The mouth sketches the shape. So, a name can carry something of the thing itself. Friends, we're always giving names to I'm a failure. He's just difficult. It never works for me. Without noticing, we start seeing only what fits the name we chose until the name is running us. In Beresa, angels asked about man before his creation. The holy one, blessed be he, said his wisdom exceeds theirs. He showed them the animals. What is its name? They did not know. Then Adam saw them and said, "This is an ox, a donkey, a horse, and this a camel." and his own name, Adam. For I was created from the Adamama, the earth. Man's first wisdom wasn't building or conquering. It was seeing each creature's essence and naming it truly. Look at the name he chose. Not in angels, not heavens, earth, where a seed is planted and grows. That's the secret of names. Not a label, a lens. Whatever we name ourselves, we see. What we see, we move toward. Faith isn't ignoring hardship. It's calling it by its true name. Not an end, but earth yet to grow. So next time we start saying, "I'm a failure." Let's stop. Choose another name. A name of Earth. Because the name we give ourselves is the world we step into.