Definitions HQ

A Name (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠power: to know a person's secret name is to master him, as Isis robbed Ra by forcing him to tell his — so to give a name is to give a soul.

A Name (n.) explains ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠nothing about a psychic fact — a survival of the old belief in word-magic; for the psychologist it should be a mere cipher, a fixed point on a survey map.

A Name (n.) posits ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the thing for the primitive mind — say Rumpelstiltskin's and he bursts, so chiefs hide their true names — and every worldview inherits this magic, pretending to be the truth of things when it is only a name we give them.

A Name (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠easily mistaken for possession of the thing — the age-old conceit that to pronounce it is to have it.

A Name (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠all they can give you for the hidden force — how will they define what they know only by its name?

Name (n.) matter ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠little — wholeness, self, higher ego; people bark at terminological phantoms as if they were metaphysical hypostases.