Let’s talk about language.
Language is a construct. One that, in order to be useful, we must collectively agree on so we can understand, communicate, and coordinate with one another.
The idea that concepts and social structures are “constructs” has become a frequent topic of conversation in recent years. Often this word is used dismissively, as though calling something a construct is the same as calling it false or illegitimate. But that’s not true. There is nothing inherently wrong with a construct. Just as there is nothing inherently wrong with rules.
We need constructs. We need rules. Without them, life becomes incoherent, too loose, too uncontained. We lose our footing.
The problem arises when constructs are obscured—when rules are unspoken, definitions unstable, and meanings contradictory.
Within the construct of language, certain words are especially prone to confusion. Words such as:
Shame, Anger and Rage, Deserve, Forgiveness, Desire and Pleasure, Gratitude, Jealousy and Envy, Attachment, Loyalty, Karma
These words often carry multiple, conflicting meanings at once—Emotional meanings. Moral meanings. Social meanings. Relational meanings. Their imprecision clouds the concepts, needs, and desires that underlie them.
To be clear, I am not suggesting there is purposeful or malicious intent behind this confusion. But I do believe that we, as groups of humans, unconsciously cultivate confusion in service of maintaining peace, cohesion, and social order. Regardless, semantic fog leads to disempowerment.
The cost is real.
Language is our most fundamental construct. When language becomes convoluted, confusion spreads to all other constructs. When words are left muddy, we can no longer locate ourselves accurately inside our own experience, navigate the world, or make decisions.
Unspoken rules and obscured constructs create confusion. Confusion invites distortion. And distortion shifts us from the functional into the moralizing.
When confusion abounds, we lose agency.
But we don’t have to give into that. We can opt for clarity. And where semantic clarity is not available—where the language we’ve inherited is too loaded or too distorted—we can construct our own.
This is not rebellion. It’s taking responsibility.
Clarity leads to agency.
Agency allows choice.
Choice leads to an ability to construct our lives in a way that is humane and functional.