I learned a new word today that I’d like to share. I am reading Susan Jeffers’ book End the Struggle and Dance With Life - yeah I like the ‘pop’ psychology; some of it has really helped me - and ran across the following:

“Barry Stevens tells us that the Jains in India have the word ‘syat’, which means ‘to the best of my knowledge at this time’. They toss it into conversation frequently to remind themselves and others that that is all anyone has to go on.”

The concept is not new - we all use IMHO to get the same idea across - but I like ‘syat’ because it is a great reminder to remember my own personal limits, keep some humility in my declarations, and to free me from holding too tightly to opinions.

A great word, IMHO

Is the word found in any dictionary?

cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/jaingloss.html - just a glossary, does not give examples of how used.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_epistemology gives more info than you want, probably, but it is interesting.

There is a Jainism dictionary, but it is not in English.