While watching the news one day, it dawned on me that people who had “no words to live by” often began to attack and even kill others. I thought back to my angry childhood, where I could easily use words to justify violent thoughts that might have been acts of violence. Words are tools, yet they seem to be more dangerous than guns.
He imagined two men face each other, facing each other. One identifies the coming storm, and the other points to a blazing fire. Each sees his own truth and is angry at seeing the hand of the other. Each feels that the other hand is “wrong.” This may seem silly, but instead of hurricanes and fires and any modern problems, and hands in words, and this incident describes how we often try to communicate.
We identify with our words, arguing as if we were looking at the same facts and experiences. We want to prove our words right, instead of learning to look at what someone else's words mean. Words are seductive, and despite all their undeniable help, they can even lead us astray when we focus on them, making them more important than the intended purpose.
No Words to Live With
This is not just communication. We focus on it, and get caught up in the net of words we use to describe the world for ourselves. We call things “right” or “wrong” for example, depending on how they are compared to our “meanings.” Unlike mathematics, however, the formulas and definitions of words will never be so accurate. They cannot cover all the facts. For example, with very little effort, you can create a situation where "stealing" will be right, and "helping" someone wrong.
This is not an argument against the use of language or concept. It's just that they both went so far. Like a car taking you to the rest of the world or the world, they are useful, but like a car, they are only useful in certain ways, and you have to get out of them when you get to your various destinations. Taking a car to the lake is not a problem, but taking it to the lake is a problem. This is what we do when our words and actions lead us to dangerous situations.
Would having a word say that it would be dangerous, though? Definitely. I once heard a sympathetic man say that he was against the cruel laws of animals because he could not find the right words to defend himself. If he saw a new machine, would he refuse to believe it until he explained it to him? Truth, and truth of right and wrong, exist without words - they are not words in themselves.
I watched a man say in the evening news that we have a right to drop a nuclear bomb on Iraq, and that we should. As he explained why, he could see that whatever compassionate motives he had, he was greatly influenced by his complete fidelity to his words, his thoughts, and his motives. It never occurred to him that there might be truth without his words and logic.
It is good to have guidelines, such as “do not lie,” or “we have the right to defend ourselves.” It is even better to remember that these laws will one day fail us, and we will have to make new ones. Words are just tools. There are words of death, but there are no words to live by.
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