Words and the Power of Words

We are in a constant struggle to make sense of our environment, to understand the inner workings of our minds and our relationship to all about us. In this struggle our primary tools to achieve understanding are the words we speak, the words we think, and the words that allow us to give meaning to our surroundings. I remember when, back in the 1950's and early 1960's, there was an upsurge within certain segments of society to make sense out of this world of words. I lived in Palo Alto, California, near Stanford University at the time. I was in the field of what is now called computer science, and I was on fire about education, the arts, behavioral science, and preschool education. I lived, aspired, and digested every aspect of the culture that surrounded Stanford University. There was a man in the area, S. I. Hayakawa, who was making quite a name for himself, because of his quest to make sense out of words and language. He wrote the book, Language in Thought and Action and was well known and respected for is ideas, and methods in relationship to making life simpler and more understandable. His book was a major factor in my determination to form a new mental equation.

Words, and the power of words, are the most ancient of man's mysteries. I call it a mystery because I know of no other way to express my perception of the riddle of language. I also call language a riddle, because anything we cannot quickly grasp in its totality has the tendency to take on the aspects of a riddle.

Another man, Benjamin Lou Whorf, attempted to make sense out of words, "Whenever agreement or assent is arrived at in human affairs . . . this agreement is reached by linguistic processes, or else it is not reached." I think this tells us that unless we can find some method by which we reach a common point of reference, we can talk until we are blue in the face and still not reach an agreement. Words, by themselves, do not create a base for understanding. There must be a bridge between words and understanding.

Feedback Page

CONVERSATIONS

My Earliest Days

Recollections of WWII

Music Touches Me for the First Time

The Grand Island Experience

Individual and Collective Error

Pain - Notes