Terms and Reality

It should be clear that if terms represent reality, the reality is independent of the terms. Since terminology usually goes along with a way of thinking, people who first get a glimpse of reality through a particular thought system and terminology often get into this confusion. They think a different system with a different terminology is representing a different reality. One of the reasons for reading widely is that it helps to distinguish between the terms and what the terms refer to.

-- Sri Madhava Ashish, qtd. in In Search of the Unitive Vision by Seymour Ginsburg