If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say...
There is a principle that anything containing immense potential for holiness is commensurately susceptible to corruption. One example is physical intimacy, and speech is another.
There is a principle that anything containing the immense potential for holiness is commensurately susceptible to corruption. One example is physical intimacy, and speech is another.
At one time or another, many of us have been told; "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." This axiom hints at the correlation between [the quality of] our thoughts and speech.
From a scientific perspective, human speech is generally a range of audible frequencies the human ear can perceive. As covered in an article about Resonance and Vibration, we understand virtually everything in the physical universe is composed of some vibrational frequency - energy and information. In accordance, the Bible indicates it was through speech that the Creator brought everything into existence.
Words Create Worlds
Though many life forms on the planet have a form of communication, it is humankind that the Targum calls a “Speaking Spirit”, a Ruach M'mala (רוּחַ מְמַלְלָא)¹. Humans possess a unique form of speech - one that comes with greater responsibilities.
There is a popular saying, that “Words create worlds”. On this idea, Rebbe Nachman teaches that proper speech enables humans to become co-creators with G_D². The negative implication here is that we can cause untold destruction through careless words. Not just to others, but to ourselves as well. If positive speech elevates us to a higher level of consciousness, negative speech brings incapacitation.
