Shards of Consciousness

It's a cool, wet morning in my part of the world. Gray skies and the smell of incoming snow encourage a moment of reflection on how I got to where I am, and how to get to where I want to be. One of the reflections is on how words, or their lack, effect our lives.

I'm fascinated by words. Language is the tool we have created to take make the private public, to convey our ideas, emotions, experiences to those around us. In Just a thought - about words, ideas and pegs Trevor Hampel writes about the power of words and our need to use them.

To convey information to others is not the only use to which we put words, though. We also use them to articulate to ourselves. In putting a name on a thing we can set it outside, turn it, look at it, reflect on it. Without reflection, we become victims of our own unconscious, unexpressed beliefs. In the Do It Yourself Prison, Craig Harper talks about how we cage ourselves through allowing our unexamined notions about the world to dictate our behavior.

One of the prisons we build for ourselves is the prison of reasonableness, that small (or not so small) voice that tells us what is realistic and and what is not. In On the Verge of a Nervy Breakthrough Lisa Gates gives us some quotes that may help you see through the irrationality of realism.

Enjoy your day. Enjoy your reflections.

[tags]beliefs, realism, language, words, reflections[/tags]