The Power of Words
Words are incredibly powerful. They can lift up spirits and encourage, and they can tear down and humiliate. Words are how we describe what exists and also they can describe what doesn't exist. When we describe something and are able to describe it with words in great detail, the path to manipulating, altering, and making utility out of the thing we are describing widens dramatically. Also, when you can assign a label that has meaning behind it that can be described with more words, like a word that has a set of words assigned to it that give the word meaning, you have made the first step in altering a problematic situation, condition, idea or thing in general, or benefiting from said thing once we have labeled it and described its properties. In a sense, you have to know what something is before you can address it. Words are how we label concepts, theories, and ideas and when we define these things, we give them substance and purpose within our reality. All of this is done with verbal concepts, i.e. words. We have the capacity to invent new words to describe a particular situation, thing, or idea that we previously were unable to describe. However, many times the words we create have an ancestral meaning or ancestral roots that we combine to induce the new meaning behind the word we create. This is a natural part of the scientific and social language progress that is made as we develop new ways of doing things, new technologies that enhance our lives, new medicines that improve our health, and new philosophical and political understandings.
This evolution of language and words is both necessary and inevitable. The way we describe verbally new concepts and systems and ideas is part of our social and intellectual evolution. The only way words are effective in a social context is if all parties involved know what they mean or are capable of learning what they mean. To avoid confusion in social situations, you must speak words that the parties involved are on the same page of understanding that you are on. If no one knows what you are talking about and don't grasp the concepts and ideas presented, than your efforts to make your point fall short and are invalid because of the gap of understanding between you and your audience. Naturally, if you are more well versed in a particular field than your audience, that is ok as long as you have the capacity to teach that audience on a level that they can meet you at. It is a fact that some people have higher intelligence and a more rigorous understanding of some fields, but most people have the capacity to understand certain concepts and ideas at least at a rudimentary level. Using words to educate people is only possible by having the meaning of these words universally understood by your audience. If someone does not understand or are at a different level, than that person is going to fall behind the rest of your audience and as you describe something you might lose them entirely.
We use words to describe the parts of systems that exist, and these words have an assigned meaning that have both substantial backing (a tire on a automobile system) and are abstract (freedom of speech and its idealized role in a democratic system). The deeper we go with our labeling, down to the fundamental level in a system, and the more we can assign labels to these parts of a system, the better our understanding of how the whole system works, especially if the individual or parties involved have the ability to understand both individually or collectively how all the parts that have been identified and labeled operate as a whole or as a unit of the whole. This breaking down of a system is the best way to come to a more potent and thorough understanding of how that system works. Inventions like the microscope, the telescope, and the computer have increased our ability to break down systems exponentially, to the point that we have the capacity to understand on many different levels how things like the human body work, the depths of different compounds and elements and how atoms interact with other matter and energy, and through hundreds to thousands of years of development and understanding we have been able to label with words and identify with words the various parts and units of systems as well as systems as a whole. A lot of the words we use to describe these things were developed and assigned meaning by cultures and groups from bygone times, like the ancient greeks and romans, or the ancient arabs with many of their stellar mappings and mathematical practices. These languages often give our new words that we develop a historical and substantial meaning behind them. Words like "reconciliation," as an example, were developed to describe new situations and concepts. This particular word is used to describe a situation where people end hostility and animosity to one another and become on good terms again. "Reconcile" comes from the latin words re, meaning "again," and concilare, meaning "to make friendly." There are many other examples in english from many other languages whose words we have assimilated.
Most fights start with words. Whether it is a schoolyard brawl or a worldwide conflict, the initiating mechanism is usually words and statements, like the formation of a manifesto or a speech degrading and verbally attacking your opponent. Words cut deep, as they say, especially if you have substance behind them. Psychologically, severe verbal abuse and verbal bullying can cause more mental damage than a physical assault would just by itself. Cutting someone down by saying things that insult their character, their status, or their intelligence can be quite damaging, especially when that person is vulnerable to those kinds of attacks. When the words have substance, like insulting someone's family history or preying on an insecurity of some sort, the can be especially damaging to the psyche and mental state of the targeted individual. It can be as if you are striking the mind with what you say in a similar way as you would strike the body physically. In a way you can engage in a conflict of words of some sort, whether it be an argument, a legitimate debate, or hostile intent towards another group by dehumanizing them with what you say about them and do. An example could be how the Nazis would start indoctrinating their youth in believing that Jews were monstrous things that were less than human and needed to be destroyed. Another example that may sound silly, but is actually quite relevant, is how music artists, in particular rappers and hip hop artists, use their forum to launch verbal assaults against anyone who challenges their status. They use sophisticated insults that utilize the knowledge they have gathered on their opponents and degrade the opponent's reputation and respect. These people literally use their words as weapons. In diplomacy and war, the first step in instigating or responding to a conflict is a declaration of war against the adversary, and their is often diplomatic and political build up to this conflict where the agenda is set by the parties involved and the mindset of the people of their country is "influenced" by the media and politicians to foster public support for the war effort. This is all done with words.
Words can bind you. They can put you in servitude and in bondage. This can take the form of oaths and contracts. When you take an oath, you are making a verbal commitment to a cause or person or agency in which there may be serious consequences if your oath is broken or violated. In a similar way, contracts are written commitments that people make when there needs to be a legal standing and a physical copy of the commitment you make. You may be bound to pay off a debt, you may be bound by law to serve a term in prison or bound to service into an institution.
If you view a brain as a sophisticated computer, then words are the code we use to program it. When we are developing in our youth and into adulthood, we learn what things are, mean, and how they are applied in reality. We are programmed by the language we speak to understand reality in verbal concepts and ideas, and these concepts and ideas govern how we operate within reality. Almost all of this is done through words. When we get an education, we are taught what we know, and hopefully how to think critically. This programming of our minds is a lifelong process as we continue to develop our cognitive capabilities. Words are the code that we develop and learn that allows us to form a mental understanding of our world and allow us to develop new ideas and thoughts and describe them to others. Words are beyond powerful.
This evolution of language and words is both necessary and inevitable. The way we describe verbally new concepts and systems and ideas is part of our social and intellectual evolution. The only way words are effective in a social context is if all parties involved know what they mean or are capable of learning what they mean. To avoid confusion in social situations, you must speak words that the parties involved are on the same page of understanding that you are on. If no one knows what you are talking about and don't grasp the concepts and ideas presented, than your efforts to make your point fall short and are invalid because of the gap of understanding between you and your audience. Naturally, if you are more well versed in a particular field than your audience, that is ok as long as you have the capacity to teach that audience on a level that they can meet you at. It is a fact that some people have higher intelligence and a more rigorous understanding of some fields, but most people have the capacity to understand certain concepts and ideas at least at a rudimentary level. Using words to educate people is only possible by having the meaning of these words universally understood by your audience. If someone does not understand or are at a different level, than that person is going to fall behind the rest of your audience and as you describe something you might lose them entirely.
We use words to describe the parts of systems that exist, and these words have an assigned meaning that have both substantial backing (a tire on a automobile system) and are abstract (freedom of speech and its idealized role in a democratic system). The deeper we go with our labeling, down to the fundamental level in a system, and the more we can assign labels to these parts of a system, the better our understanding of how the whole system works, especially if the individual or parties involved have the ability to understand both individually or collectively how all the parts that have been identified and labeled operate as a whole or as a unit of the whole. This breaking down of a system is the best way to come to a more potent and thorough understanding of how that system works. Inventions like the microscope, the telescope, and the computer have increased our ability to break down systems exponentially, to the point that we have the capacity to understand on many different levels how things like the human body work, the depths of different compounds and elements and how atoms interact with other matter and energy, and through hundreds to thousands of years of development and understanding we have been able to label with words and identify with words the various parts and units of systems as well as systems as a whole. A lot of the words we use to describe these things were developed and assigned meaning by cultures and groups from bygone times, like the ancient greeks and romans, or the ancient arabs with many of their stellar mappings and mathematical practices. These languages often give our new words that we develop a historical and substantial meaning behind them. Words like "reconciliation," as an example, were developed to describe new situations and concepts. This particular word is used to describe a situation where people end hostility and animosity to one another and become on good terms again. "Reconcile" comes from the latin words re, meaning "again," and concilare, meaning "to make friendly." There are many other examples in english from many other languages whose words we have assimilated.
Most fights start with words. Whether it is a schoolyard brawl or a worldwide conflict, the initiating mechanism is usually words and statements, like the formation of a manifesto or a speech degrading and verbally attacking your opponent. Words cut deep, as they say, especially if you have substance behind them. Psychologically, severe verbal abuse and verbal bullying can cause more mental damage than a physical assault would just by itself. Cutting someone down by saying things that insult their character, their status, or their intelligence can be quite damaging, especially when that person is vulnerable to those kinds of attacks. When the words have substance, like insulting someone's family history or preying on an insecurity of some sort, the can be especially damaging to the psyche and mental state of the targeted individual. It can be as if you are striking the mind with what you say in a similar way as you would strike the body physically. In a way you can engage in a conflict of words of some sort, whether it be an argument, a legitimate debate, or hostile intent towards another group by dehumanizing them with what you say about them and do. An example could be how the Nazis would start indoctrinating their youth in believing that Jews were monstrous things that were less than human and needed to be destroyed. Another example that may sound silly, but is actually quite relevant, is how music artists, in particular rappers and hip hop artists, use their forum to launch verbal assaults against anyone who challenges their status. They use sophisticated insults that utilize the knowledge they have gathered on their opponents and degrade the opponent's reputation and respect. These people literally use their words as weapons. In diplomacy and war, the first step in instigating or responding to a conflict is a declaration of war against the adversary, and their is often diplomatic and political build up to this conflict where the agenda is set by the parties involved and the mindset of the people of their country is "influenced" by the media and politicians to foster public support for the war effort. This is all done with words.
Words can bind you. They can put you in servitude and in bondage. This can take the form of oaths and contracts. When you take an oath, you are making a verbal commitment to a cause or person or agency in which there may be serious consequences if your oath is broken or violated. In a similar way, contracts are written commitments that people make when there needs to be a legal standing and a physical copy of the commitment you make. You may be bound to pay off a debt, you may be bound by law to serve a term in prison or bound to service into an institution.
If you view a brain as a sophisticated computer, then words are the code we use to program it. When we are developing in our youth and into adulthood, we learn what things are, mean, and how they are applied in reality. We are programmed by the language we speak to understand reality in verbal concepts and ideas, and these concepts and ideas govern how we operate within reality. Almost all of this is done through words. When we get an education, we are taught what we know, and hopefully how to think critically. This programming of our minds is a lifelong process as we continue to develop our cognitive capabilities. Words are the code that we develop and learn that allows us to form a mental understanding of our world and allow us to develop new ideas and thoughts and describe them to others. Words are beyond powerful.
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