Two Words One Step
Two Words One Step
For the first 15+ years of my life this time of year was dominated by a single word, “vasinagol” (Vās-īn-à-gol). It was used as much as you might hear the phrase pumpkin spice these days. Spell check keeps suggesting alternate words but this is the exact word I heard as a kid. My maternal grandparents and mom would throw the word around and soon enough my grandparents house, which was typically musty, would have the aroma of fresh grass, citrus and a subtle floral scent. Being a mildly curious kid it was some years before I discovered my grandma was making pesto. Even then I kept hearing this word “vasinagol” and began to associate it with pesto. That was the word we used. I never heard anyone else use it besides my aunt and uncle on my mom’s side. Both of my maternal grandparents are of southern Italian origin so I had assumed “vasinagol” just meant pesto on Italian. By the time I was in high school I knew what basil was and that it was the primary ingredient of classic Genovese pesto. Putting things together I then realized that “vasinagol” was basil!! It was a revelation to me at the time. Jump ahead a few more years, now 20 years old, I took my first trip to Italy. While in Florence, walking through an outdoor market, I spotted a merchant selling fruit and vegetable seeds. I began sifting through all of the colorful little envelopes, picking out those that interested me, when I came across, what was clearly depicted on the front, basil. I’ve seen basil every late summer of my life. At both my maternal and paternal grandparent’s houses as well as my own. On the envelope, it’s name in Italian “Basilico”. Another revelation! One that finally puts this confusion to rest. “Vasinagol” is the Basilico which is Basil!! 20 years in the making. “Vasinagol” is nothing more than Neapolitan dialect for Basilico.
For years I had associated a word with a thing that brought confusion and misunderstanding. This is but one example, albeit mundane, of how we can so easily move through life not fully knowing something but making the assumption that we do. This is the convergence of Ignorance (Avidya) and Ego (Asmita). The ego will always assume it’s knowledge of a thing is absolute, while ignorance (our inability to know all aspects of a thing) keeps absolute knowledge out of reach. To overcome them both, the only step needed is knowing that we possess a base level of ignorance. In doing so we quash the power of the ego simply by accepting our limitations of absolute knowledge. So, keep up your practice, be aware of your misunderstandings and take the simple action of accepting your misunderstanding.
