Words Are Not As Powerful As You Think.

I disagree that words are inarguably powerful.

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

To understand the power of words,
we need to understand how words work.
To understand how words work,
we need to understand something fundamental,
which is the similarities and differences between what we perceived and what another perceived.

As an simple example,
when each of us perceive an apple,
each of us are looking from a unique standpoint.
So, an apple to one is a different apple to another.

And, to take it further,
when a word like ‘apple’ is mentioned,
each of us conjures a different apple image,
which is based on individual experience of an apple;
I may imagine a sweet green apple,
while you may imagine a crunchy red apple,
while another may imagine a bitten candy apple.

However, it may seem like we just need to be specific to align our images.
But, for example,
descriptive words like ‘sweet’, ‘crunchy’, and etc are subjected to individual preferences.
Also, for color words like ‘red’, ‘green’, ‘blue’, and etc can have different tonality in individual minds.
Similarly, this understanding applies to other words as well.
As such, when reading or listening to words,
many different images combined into a biased picture that varies from person to person.

To reinforce my subjective stand,
we can examine the ineffectiveness of words when a language barrier is present.
For example,
when a Chinese doesn’t understand English,
no matter what pretty or ugly English words we used,
the Chinese may simply stay in daze when spoken to.
In this case,
the ‘power’ of words doesn’t exist.
As such,
this lead to an examination of the process of how we use words.

Imagine ourselves as children,
who are just learning about a word called ‘chair’.
When the first time the word ‘chair’ is heard,
our senses capture all the information available at the moment.
When the second time the word ‘chair’ is heard,
our senses capture all the information available at the moment again,
and compares it with the information that is captured the previous time.
And, repeats the process every time the word is heard.

Why is the information being compared?

It is to eliminate the information that does not include the chair when ‘chair’ is heard.
For example,
when the information of when ‘chair’ is heard at a seaside that has a chair is compared with when ‘chair’ is heard at a park that has a chair,
the sound of ‘chair’ can be safely associated with chair.
Similarly,
our emotions and feelings are associated to things through that repeated process.
Hence, our emotions and feelings are recalled when we read or hear certain words because of our associations.
Furthermore,
this means that we can reconfigure what each word affects to us and others.
As such,
while we have the control over the effect of words,
the existence of the power of words lies in our hands.

Even though usage of words have pathed the way for us to create civilizations of both prosperity and demise,
and may continue to evolve through our timeless usage.
what happens in the future is still based on our collective work.
So,
as the true power lies in our hands,
words are not as powerful as you think.

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If you are interested for more ideas,
Feel free to check out this ebook:
Powerful Ideas To Transform You: Open Your Eyes To New Possibilities Of Life: Free Your Mind From Your Limitations