Sunday 25 November 2012

"Let there be a blog!" And there was a blog.

The ability to create is undoubtedly one of the greatest and most mysterious qualities of the human mind.

According to Wikipedia:

Creativity refers to the invention or origination of any new thing (a product, solution, artwork, literary work, joke, etc.) that has value. "New" may refer to the individual creator or the society or domain within which novelty occurs.

There is a famous collection of writings that people like to interpret in their own ways, each more intriguingly than the other. In these writings there is an almighty character called God, and these writings are of course called the Bible. The first story of the Bible is the story of creation, the Genesis. In this story God creates the heaven and the earth, the plants and animals and so on. I'm sure we have all heard this story and there are many ways to interpret it. However, there is one particularly important detail in this story, and that is how God creates all of this. Remember the part where God simply says: "Let there be light!" And then there was light. Pretty cool, huh?

The Bible isn't on my top five reading list but with this example I just wanted to point out the importance of words. Obviously creation and words have something to do with each other.

If you happen to be a dog owner and you tell your dog: "Come here", then the dog would probably come to you wiggling its tail. If you use different words then different things will follow because words are like contracts. You have agreed with your dog what these commandments mean, and for an obedient dog these are truly like words of God.

I am not planning to dwell on metaphysical gibberish but I would like to quickly point out a connection between God and Word.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

This is one of those mindfuck parts of the Bible. The Word was God? Think about it for a while. The original language of the New Testament is Greek, and the word 'word' in Greek is Logos. Logos has several meanings in philosophy, theology and rhetoric, and from this important term is derived the word 'logo' to describe different kinds of symbols mainly used in a commercial context. Also 'logic' has its roots in this term.

Anyway... then happened something quite interesting. "The Word bacame flesh". This is where the tragic hero character of the Bible, greatly beloved and hated Jesus comes in the picture. So what is the equation between God, Word, Logos and Jesus? Well, that's something you can think about if you wish. In this context I merely wanted to show that word (or Word) is a very crucial concept even in the Bible.

Also the Arabs understood the significance of words a long time ago. In their storybook, One thousand and one nights, there is the story of Ali Baba who opens the sealed cave with the legenday magical words: "Open Sesame". Thus we could conclude by saying that words create worlds and open doors.

Over the course of time people have developed various codes by which spoken words and concepts have been converted into writing. By reading these words you are in fact deciphering a writing system based on the Latin alphabet, and by doing so, interpreting the English language. All this is a very everyday function, and we use these codes all the time without really thinking about it.

Words are also quite faulty and imperfect since thoughts created by the human mind are so complex and sophisticated that they can not always be described by words. How to explain the feeling of seeing your child for the first time to someone who does not have any children? How to explain a rainbow to someone who has been blind for their whole life?

It has been told that the Buddha was enlightened. He understood something very profound that would probably be quite useful for each of us to understand. But he also knew that this understanding could not be simply transferred to or shared with other people. It was a path that everyone had to walk themselves, and so he told his disciples on his death bed not to follow any leader.


Words are powerful. Words can encourage or betray, fascinate and antagonise. Nowadays there is a lot of talk about mental abuse, and that is good. We should all be conscious of the impact of our words. The fact that I am writing a blog will have an impact on the readers - one way or another. Each action (and word) has its causes and effects. Myself I try to have a positive effect on people.

The most important reason for starting a blog was that sometimes I have a need to create something. I have not written this type of text for a long time and now it felt like a good idea. So I decided to take this "brave step" and bring my thoughts forth to you to consider.

Brave step. I chose this name for my blog because I very much like the invention or origination of any new thing that has value. Sometimes it takes courage, but it is also the best and most effective way to develop as a human being. You need to be creative.

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