The Divorce of Things From Their Names

“The world is babbled to pieces after the divorce of things from their names.”

-Wendell Berry

We speak and write, but speaking and writing isn’t enough

we want charts and definitions to tells us what we mean

words are meant to communicate but

we’re always trying to read between the lines

to see things that may only be in between our consciousness

and our desire to find the answers we want

the ones we think satisfy our longings

 

I write this because I love words 

but sometimes I get tired of how they fail me

 

How they never seem to be enough

Even if I had a “genius” vocabulary

people will always read things differently

they will want neat clean definitions

to tell them what to do and help them win their arguments

besides, it’s not about loquaciousness

 

Brevity is clarity

true “genius” is saying more with less

So while I have this romantic notion improving my vocabulary

will cause the world to finally hear what I have to say

I know deep down it’s a fallacy

 

Because the world doesn’t need knowledge for knowledge’s sakes

we can “know” whatever we want  (Google it)

and it still doesn’t change the ache in us

 

Sometimes I lie to myself and think I need to fit it with these

intellectual and witty writers

but the truth is

 

I am not them

(this is me)

 

Just a girl trying to put a face on beauty with my few shallow words

Trying to strip away bad definitions of

big things that matter

 

Like happiness and success and desire

and God

 

I am simply trying to name what can’t necessarily be named

 

So much of defining is about trying to prove a point

instead, I’d like to use it to allow the beauty of a thing to unfold

 

There’s something in a name

when we name, there is an intimacy attached

 

and so maybe I can reunite ideas with their right definitions

and be sure to speak the sacred names

all of life has

not leaving out vowels or writing around the issues

because that will never move us forward

 

And so

I leave you with this;

the one definition, the one name that needs to be communicated above all else:

 

God= Jesus= pure love.

 

If that is the only conclusion you arrive at the end of reading this blog

If that is the only thing I know at the end of my life

that is enough

Tags: Definitions, Names, Wendell Berry, Words, Writing