In Chapter 2 of Through the Looking Glass
"When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
"When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said
Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The
question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – – that’s all.”
And
I would add to that; “Is one’s heart or mind the master or an amalgam of the
two or can you be sure of conveying any of the possible yield of
three.?”
Last week a friend told
me, “The mind seeks what the heart already knows.”
Earlier
today I said something to another friend that may not come off well, as words
too often fail to do; and may not speak for the whole of what I intend.
“The
phone may work for the mind but it may not convey what the heart knows. The
phone may well be electric But I doubt that the essence of my heart can travel
through a phone. If there wasn’t something mysteriously wonderful about
proximity; why shake hands or why hug or why a queen-size bed.”
********
Bosco,
the border collie, said, “The man who calls me for supper just looks at me and
I know what he is thinking without any words. And there have been times that he
spoke to me without heart and I just couldn’t hear him.”
“What
a mystery! Words can be smoke without fire”, squawked Polly, the Sissoru
parrot, "As a parrot I say a lot of words that I don’t have a feel for.
People call it ‘parroting’; but it gets me a lot of crackers.”
“Do
you believe that it is as simple as that? Words, words and so many that have
lost heartfelt meaning resulting in humans losing faith in each other?”, cried
Myrtle, the turtle.
“I,
for one, feel that you have struck a chord or even a whole chorus deep within
my soul; but what can we do about it?”, sobbed Coqui, the frog.
“As
facilitator, I should remind us all that we, as a group, must row our boat in
unison or else we fail,” cooed Mary, the white pelican.
“At
the risk of me-too-ism, I rise to agree with my whole goatee,” chimed
BillyG
“Wait
just a minute. Let’s slow down a bit. If words were the only problem it would
be easy and we all know better than that,” croaked Buddy, the agouti.
“What
do you mean?,” fluttered Free, the butterfly.
“Well, I am glad that you asked,” Buddy returned
, “Some words sound like music to me and others a literal cacophony of sound.
Words can have a tone and a meter that I yearn for. I listen for an honest
heartfelt tone.”
“ Now I get it. People have so many words
that they just throw them around without deep feeling,” mused Biggy, the
mountain chicken.
“This conversation is a literal harmony and the
opposite of cacophony”, cartwheeled Hummy (through the air, at that).
And
the entire group of 24 slid into a silent song that rippled around the double
circle causing whiskers to flick, skin to crawl, and hearts to beat in unison.
Mira, the sloth, crooned, “Love one
another, everything else is unacceptable.”
Suggested reading:
The Origins of Creativity
by Edward O Wilson
The Evolution of Beauty by
Richard O Prum
