Friday, March 28, 2014

The god words

". . . we really ought to get free from the seduction of words!” -- Friedrich Nietzsche (BGEI.16)

I call the names that refer to these poorly understood and undefined ideas:

god words

Here are some examples of god words:

Space
Time
Energy
Consciousness
Force
Field
Particle
Universe
Mind
Wavefunction
Quantum State
Absolute
Infinite
Big-Bang
Cause

Evolution
Mass
. . .
there are more


Words hold a sort of power, so to speak.  And Nietchze was right. Words can be seductive.  And this has nothing to do with the words, and everything to do with us.  If I see anyone using these names listed above without a clear, consistent, crisp, unambiguous and non-contradictory definition I get suspicious.  And you should too.  I am at the point now where I think we no longer need the idea space.  Space is no longer a word concept, it is a European god that doesn't exist, like Zeus.

Just think of a word such as consciousness.  They say that this word is undefinable.  So much time and money have been spent in service to this word alone.  So much language has been spit out in service to this 'god' word.  It is staggering and astonishing how people are in awe of such a petty word that wasn't even used as today until Locke came along and gave an irrational definition of it. Some few lost souls today think that this concept, consciousness, is a fundamental property of Universe, another concept.  What stupendous folly!  And they are sincere in this belief.

god words

They are undefined, misunderstood, misconceived, misused, overused, abused, confused, reified, deified, mythologized and ultimately WORSHIPED.

We live in an age when concepts are worshiped.  This is called figurative idolatry.  

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