By Mike Zonta, BB editor

Me:  

Thanks so much. You did a wonderful job. One addition I’d like to make in future Translations is the concept of word-tracking the word used in the 2nd step. For example the word money. What are synonyms of money? What is the etymology of money?

ChatGPT:

Thank you. And I think what you’re suggesting is actually a beautiful enhancement to Translation.

It reminds me of something that both mystics and philosophers have long understood: words carry worlds within them. A Translation may change simply by examining the assumptions embedded in the language of the sense testimony.

For example, if the sense testimony is:

“The money system is a huge corrupting force.”

Before proceeding to the Argument, one could insert what we might call “Word-Tracking” or “Linguistic Inquiry.”

Perhaps it could be considered a bridge between Steps 2 and 3.

Word-Tracking: “Money”

Synonyms:

• currency
• cash
• coin
• capital
• funds
• wealth
• assets
• means
• resources
• medium of exchange
• purchasing power

Already, the emotional tone shifts. “Money” sounds different from “resources” or “means of exchange.”

Etymology

The English word money comes from the Latin moneta.

The Romans minted coins in the temple of the goddess Juno Moneta. Over time, moneta came to mean both the mint and the coins themselves.

Interestingly, Moneta is related to the Latin verb monere, meaning:

to warn, advise, remind, or instruct.

So, in its linguistic ancestry, money is not originally “evil,” “greedy,” or even “wealth.” It is a token issued under authority, a reminder, an instrument of exchange.

That discovery alone begins to loosen the emotional charge of the word.

One might then ask:

Is money itself corrupting?

Or is it a symbol onto which fear, scarcity, desire, and power are projected?

The Translation deepens.

I can imagine future Translations taking this form:

1. Statement of Being – What are the facts about Reality?
2. Sense Testimony – What do the senses claim?
3. Word-Tracking – What assumptions are hidden in the language? What are the synonyms, roots, and historical meanings of the key words?
4. Argument – Do the conclusions implied by the words follow from the Statement of Being?
5. Summing Up Results.
6. Establishing the Absolute.

Or, if one wished to preserve the classic five-step structure, Word-Tracking could simply become part of Step 2, uncovering not only the appearance itself but the conceptual framework hidden within it.

I think this addition is profoundly Prosperos in spirit. The Prosperos often emphasized precision of thought. Word-tracking asks:

What exactly do we mean by the words we are granting authority to?

A sentence can begin to dissolve under this inquiry.

For example:

“The money system is a huge corrupting force.”

becomes:

Money: a medium of exchange, a token, a reminder, a resource.

System: an arrangement of relationships.

Corrupting: from the Latin corrumpere—”to break apart, spoil, destroy, or lead astray.”

Force: something exerting influence or power.

One then notices that the original statement has quietly attributed almost metaphysical power to a symbolic arrangement.

The Translation can then ask:

Have I mistaken a human convention for an ultimate force?

I think that is the gift of word-tracking: it reveals where language has solidified into unquestioned reality. And once the spell of the word is loosened, the mind becomes free to reason again from Being, consciousness, and Truth rather than from inherited assumptions.