Word Play

I maintain that *all* human progress comes from conscious effort to figure out 'just what the hell we are talking about?'. What are these things we discuss: fire, earth, water, air?

Some people do not like and will not accept the choice of words used. They divert the conversation from a proposed topic to a discussion of the definition of the objectionable word.  There are a couple of possibilities to explain what is happening when people argue about the definition of words rather than the concept behind the word. Now, why would people want to kill the expression of a new idea or insight? Some people just want to dominate others and words are one way to do that. The motivation behind this desire to dominate? Well, that is a different discussion.

Perhaps those disputing the words do not understand the purpose of language? Perhaps they do not care about the ideas being expressed and are seeking power over the speaker by 'winning' the conversation? Perhaps they understand the concept and are attempting to show why the word choice needs to be improved? In any case, the vocabulary discussion kills the original discussion; it kills it. dead. I find it astounding that much of the time the originator of the topic does not even realize that their idea has been killed and they continue along happily along with the new conversation as if nothing had just happened. Oh well, maybe they knew that they did not know what the hell they were talking about and were grateful for the diversion. Maybe it was 'parallel dialog' and neither party was actually listening to the other? This last comprises a significant number of conversations. Neither side actually cares or even listens to what the other parties are saying.

People who actively object to the invention of new words and the refinement of old words on principle are something altogether different. Yes, I have met some. These are people who actively interfere with the process of learning; it is anti-intellectual at the highest level. These are people whose brains want to, consciously and/or unconsciously, stop the development of knowledge and its transmission from one person to another. New concepts need the redefinition or refinement of old words or the invention of new words without which, human progress stops. People have killed each other over the meaning of words, the word 'mine' or 'God'. As such it seems that the development of new words and the refinement of old words is important if for no other reason than to reduce the level of violence in human society.

My brother Colin spoke of inventing a word to describe the small period of time between the time the car door slams shut and the instant in time where one realizes that the only set of keys will be very shortly, locked inside. I don't remember what he came up with but I do know that it is a word that would add to the poetry of human existence. Now, go off and invent a new word, contribute to the progress of humanity.

The Progression of knowledge requires the refinement of definitions, the invention of new definitions for old words, the invention of completely new words. Yes, I said *all* human progress comes from our conscious minds attempting to understand what our unconscious mind is passing to the conscious mind for processing. What does 'time' mean? What does 'love' mean? Hell, what does 'planet' or 'continent' mean? Surprisingly enough, a very large percentage of words that we use in daily discourse have no real definition; they have associated 'feelings' and 'vague concepts' which reside in an individual's reality model. There is no real agreement. We pretend that others understand; sometimes they do.