I think words too often get a bum rap.
People often say of some especially intense experience, “Words cannot describe how I felt.” Sure they can. It’s a question of who’s using them.
The fourth gospel-writer claims that words were here before we were: “In the beginning was the Word.” Genesis confirms the sequence: God says “Light — be!” and then light is.
The words come first, then the phenomenon. Words, in other words, or not mere reporters after the fact, but central players in the drama.
“We tried to talk it over,” says George Benson, “but the words got in the way.” I don’t think so.
I think it’s more like this: “We tried to talk it over, but we got in the way.”
The author of this quote is not known, but it’s another nice aspect of the power of words.
“Words do two things. They provide food for the mind, and create light for understanding and awareness.”
And the words in your books and articles, John, do both these things to a sublime degree. Thank you so much for feeding our brains, and enlightening our thoughts.