SHHH!

I thought I was in charge of

the words I play with, but

I was wrong. Turns out,

I am the toy, and the words are

using me.

Like when we were cavemen

and first met lightening… FLASH!

YELP! And now, it

has a name...

BLITZ! BARQ! KIDLAT!

Then the rains fell, so we found an alter,

burned a virgin, built a temple and a

church and became Baptists. Or Buddhists,

Or Jains, or Muslims.

WORDS.

Because we had all those wars to fight.

Now, this is important...

the name is not the thing.

Unless you are God.

“In the beginning was the

WORD

And the WORD was with God,

and the WORD was God.”

And He talks to Himself

with words. And says

 "LET THERE BE LIGHT.”

In some tongue unknown to me.

Luz, lumiere, licht, luce, hikari,

svet, guang, or by any other name

would shine as bright. So now I think,

maybe I am the WORD’s favorite toy,

and He says, “I AM.”

Reviews

[Lorry]

Its when the words answer back Vol that you're in trouble!
You reminded me here of long summer days with childhood friends where it was too hot to run around (yes, even in scotland...sometimes) and we would turn into amateur philosophers/ apprentice stoner's trying to figure out what anything meant.
We used to ask such deep and philosophical things such as "why banana. why not floompidoom?" or why the is so important and insignificant at the same time.
But yes, noise became word, from grunting to whatever the early version of Oh for funks sake was when we were trying to get our point across.
But here is a mindmelter for you. Next time you spark that joint, think of God, sitting on a cloud laughing at us as he takes up and laughs to himself at the miss we all made at making up sounds when all we had to do was ask, which we couldn't because we had no sounds to make.
But I think we did not too bad with it and now that we have a word for banoffi pie, we should really just give up on new words, because why need so many words for food when banoffi pie is the perfect noise to make at feeding time? 😀

[Vol]

Lorry,
I had a History of the English Language professor back in 1970 who told us one of the reasons English was the international language was because we had over five-hundred-thousand words, far more than any other... It was only about ten years or so ago that we passed a million. Now, if we could only find something worth saying, and a nice way to say it.
Vol

[Lorry]

Hopefully before he'll freezes over! 😀

[Vol]

The following is an actual question given on a Washington State University chemistry mid -term. The answer by one student was so “profound” that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well:

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.
One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let’s look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of*change of the volume in Hell because Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.
This gives two possibilities:

If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
So which is it? If we accept the postulate, given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year, that, “It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,” and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct…leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting “Oh my God.”
THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A

[Lorry]

All I can say to that is, I hope he got his bonus! 😀

[Vol]

(OH MY GOD!!! OH MY GOD!!!") Somebody did...

[Michael Sun Bear]

I have lived in Washington all my life so was particularly pleased to read the essay on Hell originating at WA State. Great piece of writing.

[Curly Grace]

Damned straight that was an A! lol

[Curly Grace]

Vol, this is such a clever, lively piece. Only you could make lightning, language, and theology dance together like this. The whole thing feels playful and wise at the same time.

[W. Barrett Munn]

I appreciate how you explained your beliefs without sounding didactic. That's not easily accomplished.
Yeats said that poetry is made out of quarrel with ourselves - when we know what we believe where is the quarrel? I have that same problem often. Does that make me a non-poet or was Yeats just wrong?

[Vol]

Winston,
It is hard to talk about poetry without Yeats showing up. If Eliot is science, Yeats is art. I would rather compare the “ultimate search” to falling down a rabbit hole rather than an internal quarrel. I've never had to quarrel with myself, because I'm always right. (lol, had to...)
There is an important scripture that preachers don't talk about very much, but is core to my faith. Philippians 12: “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose." The God of the universe is the most important thing there is to all existence, and working out the meaning of God, is what gives me all the meaning I to have a satisfied soul. Sure beats keeping track of sports statistics. It is the thing I do all the time and colors my every thought and perception. I've always known "faith" is the name of my life's adventure. But, like most who think as I do, I find no use for religion at all. I'd bet the vast majority of atheists are really rejecting the church because they don't even know enough to reject the God of the Universe. The quantum folks are beginning to agree that there is far too much order in this perfectly balanced universe for there to be no intelligence behind it all. My current "quandary" is, did God create the conscious universe, or is the conscious universe, God?
Vol

[W. Barrett Munn]

I'm more pragmatic; whether or not there is a creator God doesn't matter so why waste thought on it? But if you think that creator God also dabbles in human affairs you're practicing religious thinking whether or not you want to be, or worse, we as a species stop trying to solve our human problems by ourselves because some great unknown has a plan and will make it all right after we die? Sounds like a con to me.

[Vol]

Winston,
Religion requires groups, and formal rules, rituals, and written doctrine...none of which have anything to do with a personal, conscious awareness of God. I prefer Kierkegaard to Nietzsche, I prefer the Bible to the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Bhagavad Gita, or Qur’an, mostly because it is in the Western Tradition and it's teachings have colored all of western philosophy, government, and politics. As I said earlier, even the quantum physicists say the universe is much to delicately balanced by chance alone and requires intelligent design. GOD. Once a person finds themselves confronted with that idea, then, "Bob's your uncle!" After studying all the religions I mentioned, and find that there is barely a core of anything rational about almost any of it. If the existence of a "Superior Being" is a given, then what? Well, you just have to figure that out for yourself. And I have to my own satisfaction. When I look around at all the stones I've turned over so far, I nod, but also realize my mind is finite, and my subject infinite. Ha! I’m attempting to find meaning under some rocks out here at the trailing end of one spiral arm of just one insignificant galaxy. But I find great joy and satisfaction in the search. Humans are wired for meaning, though most don't even know it, which is why we invented religion. Really, just another school of philosophy.
Most of the men I know, prefer sport statistics over anything intellectual; in America, intelligence is seen as a severe disability. It is the greatest war Western Civilization has ever had to fight. The last time we lost, "The Dark Ages," was how we spread the ashes. I retired from teaching at the earliest opportunity because the American Curriculum has abandoned Liberal Arts to concentrate on practical training for the workplace. And it has worked! Nobody cares anything about Monet besides what the last one sold for at Sotheby's. We are surrounded by Philistines, so what poets do is vital, even thugh it is probably too late.
Vol

[Betty Hermelee]

Dear Vol
words, wherever they were born ( hopefully not in the bible or God) are the pillar of our lives; for without them we would be seriously compromised... I can't imagine a world without them; yes, sometimes they are annoying, yet we must tolerate as best we can. I love your play on words, my friend, you are very clever!!!
Warmly, B

[Vol]

Betty!
Hey, I hope you are doing well! Thanks for stopping by and commenting... I think what I am getting at is there is no science that can explain "consciousness." The latest things I've been reading say the Universe itself is a conscious being, and our consciousness derives from that, but do not call it God. Funny, that has been my long-held belief based on nothing more than my own personal faith and reason They want to reject the classical notion that our awareness is the result of chemical reactions.
Vol

[John the Baptist]

I AM THAT I AM is the world's greatest mantram. When we speak it we are saying we are one with that which is. In truth, what more can we require?

[Vol]

John,
This is the sort of thing you think about when you are born at a Bible college to a third generation holy roller preacher...
Vol

[ThisSiteSucks]

I can't ask Lorry, so I'll ask you, How do we know what is the correct way to say things?
Who decides?

[Vol]

Eternity,
YOU decide every time you talk. If nobody understands what you said, ya just gott try again....
Vol

[ThisSiteSucks]

Yes! I love the last part! Well, I love it all!
WORDS.
They are the culprits for sure.
I believe in eternity, we all will be God's CONSCIOUS.
His thoughts will be Our thoughts.
That would answer everything.
Humanity is our downfall.

[Vol]

Before creation itself, our downfall was planned... might have even been the purpose for creation of the physical existence.

[ThisSiteSucks]

Vol, and knowing we would keep falling...

[Ken Simm.]

A unique use of excellent words. Some of which I will look up. Making excellent points. In other WORDS Excellent.

[Vol]

Ken,
Thank you, man! I had to look them up myself...
Vol

[BuzzyB]

Dear Vol,
This will resonate tremendously with anyone who has a ralationship with words, especially poetry. Words do have a way of toying with us, rather than we them. They are our masters. And don't we love them. What I found delightful here was your relating God to the entire conversation. We were designed in a certain way and since we are all marvellous, I do believe it was intentional.

[Vol]

Buzzy,
Thanks! Without words, we cannot "think." I have vivid memories from when I was three-years-old because I was a preacher's kid surrounded by a hundred teenage girls who taught me to talk. Words are what gives us what we call our consciousness. Imagine the world sans names for anything! I've tried... can't do it. It seems to me everyone wonders "WHY" are we here... I say, ask those 17-year locusts. All that time buried, digging in the dark dirt just to come out and breed for a few days... The first commandment: "Go forth and multiply." Everything else is just to make sure that happens. And we call it "nasty," or "dirty." Puzzles me... Language is the only thing that really sets us apart, and the only way to wake our species' souls, spirits, consciousness, awareness, and ability to imagine the Universe separate from ourselves... Gotta quit here, I'm losing myself down this rabbit hole.
Vol
Vol

[BuzzyB]

Your thoughts here speak of the dizzying, spell-binding truths of Nature. They convince me that we're set apart as special by a greater, cosmic design. God said, "Let there be light" and there was. Simply.

[Vol]

Buzzy,
Amen. It is a great shame that, when it comes to finding and recognizing the God of the Universe, Religion is such a destructive force.
Vol