Naming Names:

Abstract: Bahá’u’lláh says God’s name is the “spirit of all names that exist in the kingdom of names.” Cultures attach meaning to names, creating a system of symbols that contains the means to decode its signs, from obvious ones like alphabets and flags, to less obvious ones like stories and myth. I will relate Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings about the kingdom of names and the world of thought to semiotic and structural theories of culture in order to examine the role media play in informing individual and group identities, and the prescription Bahá’u’lláh provides for detaching ourselves from the kingdom of names. [Abstract taken from conference program.]