Words are NOT just Words

I’ve just come back from a wonderful trip to spend time with my daughter in Calgary. She and her roommate care for animals and have fostered many of them. Their dogs, Lucy and Frankie, are very fortunate to have such attentive owners. I watched their hand gestures as they spoke to their dogs in single commands like stop, leave it, or up. Their intent and words were clear and their dogs responded. Their cat, Calypso, didn’t respond to commands as cats almost never do, but did let their owners know when she wanted food or petting. I could write another post on all the ways animals and humans communicate, but for this post, I shall limit my remarks and ideas on words from human to human.

Words, by themselves, are just words but we all know they exist in written, signed, spoken, sung, thought, or printed forms. Religions speak about the 'word' of their prophets, gods and how that 'Word' created the universe. Words take on new meaning depending on what language they exist in and how they’re strung together. Is the form a poem, book, opera, newscast, conversation or movie? Pictures and music can also communicate thoughts and feelings which evoke words. Signing is another important form of communication as are unspoken words by gesture, glance or emoji, right? 👌

Today, as we navigate the implications of using AI (artificial intelligence) to come up with words for us, words are not just words. Their meaning, when they’re strung together in various forms, can be used in ways that are safe, just as I’m sure there are ways to use them that can be deadly. The creators are now exploring ways to come up with a framework of policies that protect but don’t stifle words, visual images and pictures that this amazing tool can create. This is a huge and complex issue I believe will surprise us for better and/or worse. My own take on AI is that I value writing the words just as much as I enjoy words and their meanings. Words teach me as I’m writing them. They school me in order and flow. They evoke many happy memories of young Alice and my Father volleying nonsensical words back and forth, laughing at the sounds they made. I still love to play with them, spend time with them, read them and savor them. So I’m not likely to use AI to write, but then, I’m an author.

Some humans say the use of words should have no boundaries. Some say books of words should be banned. Indeed, the meanings of words change over time and will continue to evolve, but are we not capable of benefiting from studying the history of words? Indeed, words have been used carelessly, without thought of consequences. Words have started wars, started protests, used to manipulate and influence or start a movement: “That’s fake news,” Donald Trump. “I have a DREAM,” Martin Luther King. What makes words so powerful and able to influence countries and world events? The variables are complex, but I think the key is who’s speaking and who’s listening, where and when we hear those words and perhaps the most important variable, the filters through which we hear words. They are what’s already inside us like beliefs, history, context, wounds and traumas.

To narrow this blog down just a bit more, let’s concentrate on words between you and I. I’m writing the words; you’re reading them. Why am I writing the words I write? I wrote approximately 60,000 words in my book about how I found, recognized and fell in love with my soul and want to share why that process is important with as many people as possible. I believe it’s the most important step you can take to align with your authentic purpose. When guided by the soul, words used to communicate purpose, my purpose, your purpose and millions of people’s purposes, will make a substantial positive difference on this planet. Like one stone thrown into a pond, the ripples move outward affecting the water in a stagnant pond until it flows freely like a river because:

There are people waiting for your uniqueness that will benefit them and through all of you, humanity. They want the same amazing fullness in their souls and the same knowing that they are doing and being their divine purpose. You have an important part in humanity’s play; everyone’s part is important. Carlssen, Book #1

It’s my greatest hope that you will read the words here and in my book and they will awaken in you the courage to pursue your purpose in service to humanity. Only you will know how or if these words resonate with you or not, but I posit you’re curious and you may even suspect your soul is knocking on the door of your conscious awareness as you read on:

The word 'Finding' is a bit of a misnomer. I started out wanting to find my soul but realized years later that I was clearly learning to listen to it rather than find it. My soul wasn't lost, but I was looking for it as if it was an object I lost and could find outside of me if I looked hard enough. Soul is not easy to define. I felt its presence but didn't know what it was. I heard its voice but didn't recognize it. I knew it was somewhere but didn't know exactly where it was. If you resonate with anything I’ve written so far, your soul is urging you to keep reading. It is with so much love that I invite and encourage you to know and hear your own soul. Carlssen, Book #1

Perhaps you’ll agree with me that words are not just words. They carry a weight that’s important to consider. One weighty word is ‘authenticity’. I’ll be posting some of the other weighty words I use all week on FB and Instagram. A word like ‘who’ by itself is not so weighty. The meaning of less weighty words can be assigned more weight based on what we believe it means to us or how it's used and when. The phrase “who are you?” could be considered more weighty than the word ‘who’. It could also have an entirely different meaning and weight based on which word is emphasized in that phrase.

Words carry a responsibility and an integrity despite the cavalier approach many take. There are words in contracts and words in documents influencing our lives right now and our future. Behind every major change humankind has ever made are words: equalizing words, social justice words, slogan words, inclusion words, exclusion words. The reason I wanted to write a post about words is I believe, collectively, that we’ve lost the ability to think deeply about what we’re reading and hearing. Are we satisfied with the opinions of pseudo news programs? We’re used to hearing ideas and words being tossed around to manipulate, not inform. How many of us research those words and ideas being tossed at us? There are enough resources everywhere that claim they have the answer.

The word “truth” is a great example of another weighty word. Which truth, we ask? There is no distinction made between a truth that means what a singular person or group of people feel entitled to do and say, and what’s best for the whole. We’ve lost our compass for the word 'truth' in our frantic race to satisfy our own wants, to get enough, to be enough. When is enough, enough?

There’s a quote by Laura Alden Kamm inside the front cover of my book that touched me deeply when I heard it:

You hold within, powerful seeds of light… the light of your soul. Laura Alden Kamm

This quote says to me that everyone has access to these seeds of light which means everyone can be guided by the light of their own soul. That’s why humanity needs ALL of us to listen to our souls, not just say we do to get what we think we want. Our soul guides us and expands our limited viewpoints. It widens our perspectives so we find common ground with those who disagree with us.

Not to get all ‘Pollyanna’ (look up the word!) on you, there is a downside to words spoken by those connected with their soul. Sometimes a word from the soul filtered through our human understanding can be misinterpreted or misspoken. Sometimes our shadow parts get into the driver’s seat and attempt to steer us. I certainly know about those setbacks, but our souls are also good at guiding us when we’re open to that guidance. Our souls are aware of just how human and fallible we can be. Honestly, we humans sometimes need fallibility to learn how to be clearer and more accurate with our words. I can definitively say, from experience, that our souls never give up on us and the more we listen the better we hear and understand, the better we clear out the junk that litters our lives inside and out.

If I can encourage even one person to dive inward and connect with their soul, that is worth the hours I’ve spent agonizing over the best words to write, praying I have written what my soul wants me to express. At stake is reaching a person who will get what I’m writing and will reconnect with their soul. That person will affect all around them in a positive way and encourage dialogue with others like the ripples in a pond.

It’s each person’s responsibility to measure and respond to others with respect in word and attitude at the very least. The very least is only the rock thrown in the pond. The ripples, as they spread out, can evolve into radical understanding. Radical understanding happens when the light of my soul in me sees the light of your soul in you and we are able to use words to uplift, to encourage, to love, and yes, to counsel, to correct and to disagree. I submit that connection with our souls is the great equalizer capable of helping us understand each other beyond our differences, our politics, our religions, our wounds, and maybe even beyond words.