What does “death and life are in the power of the tongue” mean?

Rabbi Landau teaches that King Solomon's words, “Maves vechaim beyad lashon,” death and life are in the power of the tongue, apply first of all to what you say about yourself. “You are what you say you are.”

In A Soul at Peace, Rabbi Landau notes that we usually read the verse as a lesson about how we speak about others: gossip, blessings, and curses. But the world itself was created through speech, and a person received a spark of that power. His words don't only describe a reality. They help create one.

That is why, he teaches, words about yourself “don't describe your life. They're assigning it.” Your mouth is building the person you are about to become, so decide what it will build.

Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level

Surface claim

Speech creates, and that includes what you say about yourself.

Deepest human truth

Your mouth is building the person you are about to become.

More questions from this teaching

• Can joking negatively about myself really affect who I become?