Thursday, February 22, 2007

Talk talk

I am a strong believer in the power of words. Words put beautifully can impress, can enliven the atmosphere and most importantly, they express an aspect of your personality. A stray word said in anger or frustration can hurt, and like an accident, the damage is already done, and nothing you do or say after that is going to undo the effect. The thought is depressing, and makes you realise just how powerful language can be. Words are like Clay. With a clump in your hand the shapes that you can make out of it are almost infinite. It is natural for any mind to visualize creating complicated figures out of that clump. After all, that will show your skill, right? Firstly, doing is not as easy as thinking. Secondly, time and experience with moulding Clay will tell you that the most beautiful creations are the ones that are simplest in design, because they are created with clarity of thought. Ergo, it's easy to complicate matters. Keeping it simple is difficult!

It is widely acknowledged that no words can express emotions felt very strongly-like love, anger, grief, happiness and separation. Then, all that is felt is the ache in the heart, the tear in the eye, or both. This makes me think that language is a more developed version of the primitive experiences (read:emotions). It is all very fine for it to sound good when read out, but do the words do justice to the intensity?
Then again, words are an experience by themselves :)

So blogging isn't an infatuation after all..

2 comments:

Hari said...

Simple.. but elegant..

Words are powerful, not by themselves, but by their interpretation in the minds of the reader.. And it is in the interpretation that the communication is lost.. They state, but do they communicate..

Extending the concept just a little bit further.. The fallacy of words and the flaw in language exists because they were man made.. And for that reason, they can only state, and at times logically justify, they do not bestow comprehension nor realization.. Nor can they ever alleviate or communicate the burden of experience.. Further, while we could communicate the consequence of an action, we can never really elucidate the cause of it..

Therefore, concepts like emotions, relationships, even spirituality and god are beyond the reach of language.. In another dimension, where logic does not exist..

And yes, there is beauty in simplicity.. And Ockham's razor is most difficult to apply.. But then, complication is a raging compulsive disorder of epidemic proportions.. :)

Nivedita said...

@Hari: Talk Talk! :)