These Are Just Words – We Add the Meaning

What we must remember is that these are all just words,

Written down to engender the beauty of life for all,

Simpler they couldn’t be – much like the birds,

Just as they’re adorned to stand pretty but not tall.

Just as we are, we humans will complicate,

Lest it’s our desire to extract and display,

Bringing meaning to those words in the quest to communicate,

Besides want of the simple life this is the way we’ll stay.

The fact that these are just words does not deny,

The straining, fumbling want to attach more than is intended,

Wanting to bring thought to bear – that we can rely,

So long as we acknowledge thought – that for which is extended.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The written word is made barbaric or beautiful by our perception of what it means, and words mean different things to different people.

Each Individual’s Thought Process

As a part of reading, or hearing the spoken word, our minds are designed to immediately process the data, making it into meaningful information—for us—that can be used elsewhere.

Each person has a responsibility—if they should choose to accept it—to spend a few seconds to consider the vast array of possible perception that could be gleaned from the words they read. In this is freedom, but as humans we’re more given to laziness—to remain caged in our thought is often taken as the default preference. Call it habit.

Our Perennial Challenge

Words are data. Sentences are information. Our eyes read (or ears hear) the data. Our minds process the information. The mind is the filter.

Whenever we read things we have a constant challenge. That is, to check our reading of a thing, or to simply verify our thinking. This is vital risk management.

If we accept this challenge, we’ll find that more will be added to the data and a better information set will result. For that, there’ll be less running off in the wrong direction to embarrassing and regretful outcomes, and people will also be better respected as a result.

The mind as a filter, creating useable information from the raw data (plain words), is a powerful instrument—for good or evil. How we discipline our minds, conforming them to virtue, is up to us.

It all depends on whether we wish to remain reptile brained or move on to the sphere of sophistication.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Graphic Credit: Sustain450.com.