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In my latest book, a work-in-progress on the subject of the paranormal titled The Psi Connection, I address the limitations of words in describing the mysteries of a hidden world. The following is from a chapter titled What Is Reality? 

We must face up to the fact that reality is not what we think it is. In fact, it would be fair to say that what we think of as reality is almost certainly not truly real in any sense that we can understand. Through what lenses or filters can we view this thing we think is reality? Can we perceive it at all? Our ability to understand reality is limited by our need to see it as pictures in our minds and to attempt to describe it with words. Words are vague and often misleading things. As tools with which to describe reality, words allow only an approximation at best and often result in conceptions that are completely false.

Think of statements such as “the Sun rises in the morning.” This is simple and straightforward. The clear meaning of this combination of words is literally: The celestial body we call the Sun moves up into the sky every day around breakfast time. But the reality is quite different. In fact, what is intended to convey is the process in which the Earth rotates to bring the Sun into view.

Mathematics offers greater specificity than words but is an alien language to most of us. We cannot read or speak it except as a very basic pigeon tongue involving addition, subtraction and multiplication tables. These are useful tools in performing mundane everyday tasks. A merchant may use them to count his receipts or a housewife to calculate the ingredients of a recipe,  but they fall woefully short if we wish to explain the workings of a quantum universe.

If you do not have an advanced degree in mathematics and have ever looked at mathematical statements such as Schrodinger’s equations you know what I mean. In plain words this example is a combination of symbols described as a linear partial differential equation that governs the wave function of a quantum mechanical system. To a handful of initiates into the world of higher math the equations must be things of beauty. To most of us they resemble the ravings of a maniac. And that’s a simple example, for some mathematical proofs run to hundreds or even thousands of lines.

As noted our minds operate by seeing pictures, not from the contemplation of formulae. Words are only ways to create pictures in our minds. It’s not the words that are important but the pictures. When we read a description of an elephant, we are being invited to “see” a picture of an elephant in our minds. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that is no doubt a vast understatement for no quantity of words can be sufficient to create a high definition picture of anything, and most certainly not of some abstract subject such as the reality of all that exists.

To better understand this process of drawing pictures with words, we use analogies to frame things that are difficult to grasp, abstract pictures as it were, by comparing them to simpler pictures that are easier to see. Great thinkers have doubtless relied on analogies ever since words came into existence. Immanuel Kant called analogy “the wellspring of creativity.” Friedrich Nietzche defined truth as “a mobile army of analogies.”

So in our effort as ordinary folk to create a mind picture of reality we must use the uncertain tools of words and analogy, but if we use them with care we may be able to suggest or hint at some understanding of reality’s true nature. Or, at least, to gain a better realization that reality is beyond our understanding. In other words, we can perhaps make ourselves more fully aware of our limitations and there is value in that.

The other day I was speaking with a friend who shares an interest in writing. He earned his B.A. in English Literature and was particularly influenced by the work of William Faulkner and James Joyce. I, too, read all of Faulkner when I was a teenager, and while I never had the patience to read Joyce’s flagship work, Ulysses, in my youth I did read Finnegan’s Wake and  A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, as well as the works of many other writers including in particular Hemingway, Dos Passos, Melville, Conrad, Shakespeare, dozens of English and American poets and, in translation, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Kafka, Hesse, Hugo, Stendhal and many others.

Knowing that I have employed and managed professional journalists, my friend asked me if I taught them how to become better writers. I had to think for a minute, and when I answered it was to explain that in my opinion the ability to write proficiently is not a thing that can be merely taught. It can be learned, but it is not like a basic trade such as plumbing, auto repair or carpentry. In fact, to become an accomplished writer one must first become an experienced reader.

Competent writing, like any complex skill, requires that the mental tools upon which it relies are absorbed into the mind. Just as a baseball player cannot stop to think about how to hit or catch a ball, for the writer it must become instinctive to choose the best words and to place them in the best order. And  to create that foundation requires one to read widely and extensively.

There is something about learning complex skills called the rule of ten thousand hours. It states that to master any difficult profession–say brain surgery, or designing computers, or catching a flying baseball–requires practice, lots of practice. Nothing in this life comes easily, and that’s especially true when it comes to top-tier achievement.

And it is not as simple as practicing the art itself, for one must first be immersed in the wider subject. As an example, to achieve mastery as a brain surgeon one must first know anatomy, neurology, biochemistry, toxicology, and so forth. The  computer engineer must know electronics and mathematics and physics. The ball player must have engaged in physical conditioning. All that must be in place before they can excel.

So to become a master of the written word, you first must immerse yourself in the world of words, and for that there is no substitute for reading. And, as in the case of my friend and myself, that does not mean reading the National Enquirer, trash romance novels or comic books. It means a serious, lifelong commitment to reading and there is no substitute for that.

I recently had a conversation that concerned the  script for a thirty second video clip. I owned and managed an ad agency for twenty years and the other party assured me he knew all about writing ads. He explained that he had learned it by… wait for it … watching thousands of hours of television.

That is like a person who has spent a decade watching baseball games stepping up to the plate for the first time ever and expecting to hit a ball traveling at ninety miles per hour into the upper center field stands. No, it doesn’t work that way. Not for baseball and not for writing. To be a master writer requires that you are already an accomplished reader.

 

  The following is an excerpt from my latest non-fiction book, The Psi Connection, which will be published soon. Here I discuss the way in which scientists steer attention away from acceptance of quantum mechanics as a universal truth. They use words to deflect attention.

Bullfighters perform what is called a veronica to guide the bull away with their cape. Many scientists do something similar by dismissively declaring that quantum mechanics operates only at the nano level of quarks and pions, and does not apply in the macro world, and that thus for all practical purposes, quantum mechanics can be ignored.

Faced with Schrodinger’s famous analogy about a cat they might point out that what he described could not apply to a real cat, here in the real world, and thus they need not take quantum effects into account. They falsely dismiss the argument by declaring that an analogy is not literally true. Well, here’s a news flash: Analogies are not meant to be literally true; they are a means of enhancing knowledge about underlying truths.

This view that quantum mechanics can be ignored at the macro level does not provide a clear picture of our Universe, for if we accept that psi is real, and that it may derive from a universal field that connects all things, can we deny that quantum physics is involved? If we and everything in existence are made of energy, it goes without saying that at its root everything must exist in a quantum state.

In this way and in their secret hearts, many if not most scientists continue to view our Universe as a clockwork machine and thus they are surprised and puzzled to discover that that Universe is not only continuing to expand, but that the rate of expansion is actually increasing rather than slowing as Newton would have predicted. They are equally at a loss as to why we cannot identify the mass they think should be required to hold galaxies together.

I have discussed how energy and mass are not separate things as it would be convenient to think, but two flavors of the same thing, energy.  If we accept quantum mechanics we must realize that everything that we assume to have mass in fact consists of energy. This is true because every object consists at its root of quantum particles, of mostly empty space (whatever that is) and energy posing as a perhaps imaginary thing we call matter. Thus, all that we know or suspect to exist is subject to the laws of quantum mechanics. That includes the smallest microbe but also the greatest galaxy.

It includes we humans, existing in our complex bodies made up of particles/waves of energy posing as matter, plus vast amounts of empty space, perhaps infused with mysterious energy fields that scientists label dark energy or affected by gravitational anomalies they say are due to invisible dark matter.

These terminologies have the smell of desperation about them, suggesting scientists are at a loss and grasping at straws to hold together their models of existence. In the process that George Orwell described in 1984, they replace truth with words. No one has any idea what dark energy or dark matter are, but by golly we have words for them!

Just such invisible forces or objects were invoked in ancient times to explain the observed Universe as seen through primitive eyes. Those explanations usually involved gods and goddesses, conveniently evoked to explain that which could not be understood. The deities were worshipped and made sacrifice to in order to gain their pleasure.

Today, words such as “dark energy” and “dark matter” have taken the place of gods. Just as gods such as Zeus, Kali, and Anubis had their personal names, so do the new objects of worship. By naming them we make them real, or at least so it might seem. Now in the 21st Century vast treasure is sacrificed to these new deities in the form of research grants, publishing royalties, and even a form of human sacrifice known as the career track.

I have just uploaded my latest non-fiction book to Amazon as a Kindle e-book. The title is: How to Stay Safe in a Dangerous World and it provides guidance in ways to protect yourself and your family or friends against the many threats that exist in our challenging times.

With crime on the increase and police struggling with manpower and budget shortages, responsible citizens need to take steps to protect themselves. I describe how readers can learn to project a positive aura to make bad guys. think twice. I describe ways to burglar-proof your home, and what to do if you are subject to a home invasion.

The book contains about 20,000 words and is available to purchase for $4.99 or Prime members can read it free through Amazon Unlimited.

This new blog stream will deal with the art of the written word. Let’s get down to some basics, the nature of words themselves. Just as master carpenters, surgeons, and rocket scientists rely on many tools, so do writers. The tools of a writer are words. Here are some opening paragraphs from my book Word Power: A Writer’s Guide.

Writing in its most basic form is the ability to imitate sounds or speech through the use of symbols. These symbols are called words and they are the basic building blocks of all writing
The mere ability to write or type words does not suffice to create writing that is “good” – that is, acceptably literate for everyday purposes. However, there are perhaps more than a billion people on earth today who can create writing in English that is “good,” or close enough to get by.
From there, it’s a long step up to writing that is excellent, outstanding or superb. It could be compared to the difference between picking out “Chopsticks” on the piano and performing at Carnegie Hall to rave reviews.
The craft of writing all starts with words, those humdrum, everyday symbols that allow us to replicate the universe, whether as perceived or only imagined, on a page of text. In the hands of a master, words are power, weapons of mass instruction. They yield the ability to influence others, share ideas, entertain and inform. Words can be woven into many patterns, and like magical incantations or devout prayers they can allow your deepest inner thoughts and imaginings to shine forth.
The art of using words to create superior writing is the focus of this book. An important first step on this intellectual journey is to consider that most basic question: What are words and why are they important?
Words evolved through the ages in lockstep with humankind. Perhaps more than any other factor, it is the mastery of language that sets us apart from the animal world. But words are slippery things. We often hear statements such as “those are only words,” and it’s true that language can be used to deceive as well as to shine the light of truth. For example, in formal debate each side uses similar words to present completely opposite views.
Words in themselves are merely tags to identify certain objects, ideas, actions or characteristics. As any pet owner knows, even animals use words. Cats, for example, have a limited but easily recognized vocabulary of sounds for different purposes. The plaintive meow that demands food is quite different from the satisfied drone that invites you to scratch its ears.
There is no doubt that those sounds are primitive proto-words. Other animals have even more finely developed vocabularies — the growling, barking or baying of a wolf; the chattering of a monkey to tell when food has been found or to warn of danger; the mysterious and complex songs of whales. These simple animal vocabularies are audible “words.” They are the substrate upon which our ancient ancestors built complex languages through millions of long dusty years.
Scientists hypothesize that the development of complex language was a key to the evolution and advancement of the human race. As a cooperative species rising from its animal past to create Stone Age societies, our earliest forebears needed to process and share increasingly complex information. Making fire or shaping tools from flint demanded enhanced communication skills, lest the hard-gained knowledge of innovators be lost upon their deaths. How well could an innovator teach if deprived of the ability to communicate his or her hard-earned knowledge? To not only show, but to explain.

When I was five years old I was given a child’s blackboard as a birthday present. It was a miniature version of the kind that used to be at the front of schoolrooms, with the letters of the alphabet ranged across the top and space to write or draw. For me, it was a magical portal to a new and wonderful world, the world of words. I quickly learned to draw the letters in chalk, and was soon putting them together to make words. For me, it was almost effortless. In no time I was reading and by the time I started school I was already proficient.

Over the years words have been the focus of my life. I have been a writer and editor in many roles, a blogger, a novelist, and even a landscape photographer of some success with thousands of my pictures published.

I dropped out of University of Missouri High School after my junior year (yes, I am a high school dropout without even a GED) and went straight to university where I received my degree in magazine journalism at the age of 20. Even at 19 between my junior and senior years at the Missouri School of Journalism I worked a summer job as editor of a small town daily newspaper, the Brookfield (MO) Daily News-Bulletin. It’s been an exciting ride ever since.

This new website and blog is the latest incarnation of my ever-changing career. In this blog I will share thoughts and facts about writing and other subjects. I look forward to building a following of readers and commenters who share my excitement about our good fortune in being the heirs to the unmatched legacy of the English language. Stay tuned.