Can you See the Truth? Going Beyond the Label

To apply a label is the first step. To take away a label is the last.

(5 min read)

A child once stood beneath a giant tree, its branches stretching wide like open arms.

She pointed upward and asked, “What is that?”

Her father smiled, “That’s a tree.”

And with that one word, the mystery ended.

She no longer noticed the shimmer of sunlight filtering through its leaves, or the way the branches pointed to the sky, like arms in prayer.

She didn’t hear the wind whispering secrets through its branches, or see the small ant colony weaving life along its bark.

She missed the nests the birds had made on the tallest branch, and roots hugging the earth.

The label “tree” became a full stop. A period at the end of a sentence that was never truly read.

But imagine had he had said — “I don’t know, love. Let’s find out.”

Then they might have sat together in silence, watching, listening, observing, wondering.

And she would have learned something most of us forget:

The truth of a thing isn’t in a word, in the description of things — it’s in your presence with its endless mystery.

Labels are shortcuts the mind takes to feel secure, to conceptualize.

But presence, deep, wordless presence that invites you to see the interconnectedness of all things.

Why we label

We label things because our mind cannot stand not knowing what something is.

We would rather know wrong, than not know at all.

So we label.

But the moment we label something, we have stopped understanding it.

Labeling gives us a feeling that we understand, when in fact, we don’t understand it at all.

What is a tree, a flower, a person you have loved?

Ask deeply, and eventually you’ll run out of answers, and arrive at the only true understanding: not-knowing.

Let go of the labels you give emotions, people, and objects every day, to see them for the first time.

Who is the one you love, without the label you’ve given them?

To remove the label is to invite their mystery, and therefore deeper understanding.

It is to bear witness to the immense complexity and beauty that hides in plain sight.

Going beyond labels

What is a fear, without the word fear?

Describe it until you understand that no one can fear something that has not yet happened, but only a projection of something that has.

What is a hurt, without the word hurt?

Describe it until you see who is really hurt, you or the concept, the image of you?

A label hides the truth the mind cannot understand—with a concept that it can.

That is where the journey begins:

Into the mystery we call life.

To know that, and that alone, is truth.

3 Action Steps to See Without Labels:

1. Meet the Moment Anew
   The next time you see a friend or partner, imagine you’ve never seen them before.
   Reflection: Who are they, without the story I’ve assigned to them?

2. Ask Again
   Choose an ordinary thing—a tree, a chair, a sound—and keep asking: What is this?
   Reflection: How much do I truly know versus what I’ve assumed?

3. Drop the Word
   When fear or sadness arises, drop the word. Feel the sensation, not the name.
   Reflection: What do I discover when I stop calling it fear?