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How much of what we hear is exaggerated, destructive or full of hate? Don Miguel Ruiz, author of “The Four Agreements,” would say many people fail to be impeccable with their words. Impeccable means not capable of sin and free from fault or blame. Think of what it means, then, to be impeccable with your words.

Ruiz tells us, “Through the word you express your creative power. It is through the word that you manifest everything.” Only humans are blessed with the ability to communicate, and yet many pervert this gift by not being impeccable with their words.

After the Kentucky county clerk, Kim Davis, was jailed for failing to issue a marriage license to a gay couple, former governor Mike Huckabee told Fox News, “I think people need to wake up and realize that the people of faith in this country are genuinely under attack.” Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in the Federalist, “In the past few months, we have witnessed the gravest attacks on life, marriage, and religious liberty that our nation has ever endured.”

Under attack? Characterizing gay marriage as an “attack” perverts the word, which means violence, an onslaught, combat. At worst, gay marriage has been divisive and, yes, an elected official was jailed for giving priority to her religious views over legal mandate, but neither religion nor marriage is under attack.

You can practice your faith however you like in America. You can pray on a bus or in a public square without fear of being arrested, and no one has proposed legislation that would outlaw or in any way diminish marriage between a man and a woman.

If you want to see religion under attack, look to Syria where ISIS has murdered Christians simply because they are Christians. Neither Huckabee nor Cruz has been impeccable with his words.

Ruiz refers to language as “the most powerful tool you have . . . But like a sword with two edges, your word can create the most beautiful dream, or your word can destroy everything around you. One edge is the misuse of the word, which creates a living hell. The other edge is the impeccability of the word, which will only create beauty, love and heaven on earth.”

A National Rifle Association survey asks, “Should you be forced to tell your doctor if you own a firearm, so that he or she may permanently register you as a gun owner under Obamacare’s guidelines?”  What is the NRA talking about?

A Florida law prohibits physicians from asking patients about whether they have guns in the house and has been challenged in court. Pediatricians were asking about guns, just as they ask about chemicals, electrical outlets and other household dangers. I reviewed the court records and saw nothing about physicians asking parents about guns so they could be registered.

As for Obamacare, I haven’t read all 2000 pages in the Affordable Health Care Act to see if it contains a gun registration provision as the NRA suggests, but I know the 1993 Brady Law precluded the establishment of a federal gun registry.

Why does the NRA choose not be impeccable with its words and talk about something—gun registration—that doesn’t exist?  To instill fear?

In an interview last month on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Congressman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the president has “proven himself to be untrustworthy” on the issue of immigration. How is it that Ryan has the right to publicly pass judgment on anyone, let alone the president? When does anyone have that right?

But it’s not just Ryan’s public judgment that is problematic, it is the lingering impact his words have. By characterizing the president as unworthy—as opposed to focusing on the president’s position—Ryan has created a barrier between himself and the president that will preclude meaningful dialogue. Are Ryan’s words impeccable?

Donald Trump’s campaign is based on statements that have no connection to reality. He has told us that, for the most part, Mexico brings only drugs and rapists to the U.S., and that he witnessed “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the downing of the twin towers on 9/11.

No one else has witnessed the “thousands and thousands” of Muslims that he claims were celebrating. Rudy Giuliani, who was the mayor of New York on 9/11, told the British Broadcasting Corporation  that Trump has exaggerated what occurred. Giuliani recalls only reports of “pockets of celebration, some in Queens, some in Brooklyn.”

Trump’s departures from reality are only one issue. His words are destructive and generate hate. He is not impeccable with his words.

When we speak, our words carry the power to influence. Too often that power is used for self-aggrandizement or to pander to the raw emotions of others or to promote selfish interests.

Exaggerating and misleading others demonstrates a lack of respect. These are underhanded methods of seducing others and sucking them into a world where objective truths are as malleable as mercury.

“Depending upon how it is used,” Ruiz says, “the word can set you free, or it can enslave you even more than you know. All the magic you possess is based on your word. Your word is pure magic, and misuse of your word is black magic.”

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Jack D’Aurora writes for considerthisbyjd.com

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