The Freedom and Prison of Words
There is no shortage today of opinions. We are bombarded by television, radio, newspapers, magazines, bill boards, popular music, books, advertisements all vying to control our thoughts.
Should we agree or disagree with this war? What political party should we vote for? What school should we apply to? Is the environment really in trouble? Is big business greedy? Should abortion be outlawed? Should hand guns be banned? What church should we belong to, if any? …and on and on…
Many of us have very definite views on the above topics. The media certainly is vocal about their views. For any of the above issues there is no shortage of logical, reasoned arguments trying to persuade us to choose sides. Indeed some even attack opponents with spurious slander and libel to get their points across and coerce us into a position.
Where do these views come from? How did we come to our own beliefs? Words through media streams lifted to the “voice of authority" can short circuit independent thought and leave us vulnerable to any sound-good slogan.
Over the last ten years great strides have been made in understanding the human brain. We can glean incredible insights into how the media can control our thoughts and, more importantly, how we can take back that control.
Signals in the Brain
Thoughts control our bodies’ movement which can either propel us toward the realization of our own deeper personal missions in life or make us puppets for somebody else’s mission.
All sensations, movements, thoughts, memories, and feelings are the result of signals that pass through neurons in the brain. Neurons have a cell body containing a nucleus. Dendrites extend out from the cell body like the branches of a tree and receive messages from other nerve cells. Signals then pass from the dendrites through the cell body and may travel away from the cell body down an axon to another neuron, a muscle cell, or cells in some other organ.
Axons may be very short, such as those that carry signals from one cell in the cortex to another cell. Or axons may be very long, such as those that carry messages from the brain all the way down the spinal cord. Why is this important to know?
Napoleon Hill, more than half a century ago, understood that thoughts result in material things. That is, if the right thought is held in the mind it will naturally manifest in the world. Therefore if we hold the thought of abundance, peace, and success that will naturally become our reality. Conversely, if negative thoughts (signals passing through neurons) are held in the mind they can stagnate our progress and create dis-ease in the body.
Now, look toward the daily papers and evening news: Terrorism, the proliferation of aggressive, violent, and anti-social behavior in our schools, more and more teenagers discovering their efficacy at the end of a gun barrel … technology advancing mainly for the purpose of developing evermore sophisticated weapons of war, corruption in high levels of government and business...
Is it any wonder why new diseases like ADD/ADHD are on the rise, same with drug abuse, cancer and other diseases, and senseless violence in our schools? We are on negative thought overload.
Unfortunately, these messages, coming from all directions, can pervade our consciousness and cloud our light with their gloomy omens. Contrary to popular belief, and the mainstream media, it does not have to be that way. Many people on this planet have discovered their power and are living a life filled with love, abundance, and prosperity. What those people know is that there is no shortage or lack but that we place on our own thoughts.
The Power of Words
Noah Webster once said that if every one of his possessions were taken away and he was left with only words, he’d get all his possessions back. Now there was a mind not disabled by negativity.
February 13 of 2003 the United Nations initiated “The International Decade of Literacy" under the theme “Literacy as Freedom". This is a most noble and timely goal. It is no surprise that this initiative comes after “The Decade of the Brain" (the 19990’s).
According to the UN Chronicle one in five adults world-wide cannot read or write and more than 113 million children have no access to books, schools, or teachers: In short, they are deprived of an education. “The International Decade of Literacy" marks a defining moment in world events. But why is literacy so important?
Without adequate language skills, we are defenceless against those that do. Inadequate language skills, more than anything else, control our thoughts and subsequently leave us susceptible to any charlatan that wants to empty our pockets and/or control us.
We must understand that language is primarily a tool of thought, not communication. We use language to intellectually grasp concepts then, and only then, language becomes the vehicle to clearly communicate those concepts. Language gives us the power to understand, differentiate, and then build on endless arrays of concepts and principals. The more words we have in our vocabulary, the less likely we are to be fooled by them.
A strong vocabulary driven through the mechanism of grammar can enhance thinking skills with greater clarity and, more importantly, prevent others from using language as a means of control. Without proficiency of this powerful tool, we are at the mercy of silver-tongued power seekers (often in control of the media) that impel entire nations to the brink of disaster, or keep them stagnated in a pool of poverty. Automatically accepting sound-good slogans, aphorisms, or dictums puts us in a position of weakness and vulnerability.
For example, consider the saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names can never hurt me?" That is a false adage. Names are words and words can penetrate more deeply than sticks and stones. They can insidiously strip self-confidence, self-esteem, and leave emotional scars. The strife a mentally abused person suffers can be more devastating and long-lasting than physical abuse.
Words Provoke Action
From this side of the twentieth century it is difficult to understand how so many people were duped into unleashing unimaginable atrocities on humanity. But in the moment, at a time when the economic gap was widening and many people were looking at a bleak future, the bellicose utterances of despotic leaders manipulated the vulnerable into calculated, efficient killing machines. Those with other ideas—words grouped together—were exterminated.
It’s no accident that the first thing these despots take control of is the media streams to the people.
Moving forward to today and terrorism. It may seem like a completely different set of circumstances, but the underling issues have not changed. Now, the bellicosity of self-appointed prophets, with political motives, persuade a group of mostly illiterate people into detonating themselves on buses and in schools filled with innocent children. These terrorists, often adolescent children themselves, are indoctrinated with hate from a young age.
When the fire of adolescence burns through their veins they are ripened to be God’s vicegerent. How many of those people were given a choice of what religion to choose? How many of them had even read the Qur’an, the Torah, or the Bible? How many of these people realize how closely Judaism and Islam are related in spirituality and language?
And perhaps the saddest question of all:
How many of these children realize that they are silencing their own potentially powerful voices in a moment of fury. Voices, like Gandhi’s voice of non-violence, that would go further to right the wrongs bestowed upon their people.
Language is a powerful tool that must be appreciated fully by anybody wanting to thrive and survive in this coming era.
“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We don’t let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas."–Joseph Stalin
We are bombarded daily with ideas telling us what to buy, think, and do. Large companies of the world spend billions of dollars each year logging their logo into our brains. Political parties use media streams to caress sound-good slogans into our brains and lure us away from integrated, critical thinking required to form our own opinions and live our own missions.
What is the answer? Turn off CNN and read scholarly articles, reports not supported by big business and political parties, poetry, and, most importantly read great literature. There is nothing better to shift the brain into gear than by reading great metaphorical prose.
If we must read the newspapers and stay on top of world events do so sparingly. We must be conscious of the thoughts that we allow to circulate around our brains and recess in our bodies. If we want to affect positive change in this filled-with-opportunities era we live in right now we must start by taking responsibility of our thoughts.
Here's a Thought
Imagine a world where people deal fairly with each other, respect differences of opinion, and actively encourage those with limited resources to develop themselves and their communities in positive, life-affirming ways. This world cherishes its cultural diversity and uses it to elevate humanity to new and better ways of living. Of course this world, humbled by its awesome power harnesses clean, efficient energy that protects the planet and keeps its inhabitants vibrantly alive in all essential ways.
|
tweet this!
