words matter

We need a language for the living. Yes, we need the big narratives and manifestos, but that’s not where it begins. It begins in simple conversations. In the moments where we let go of who we think we need to be and choose to be present instead. Where we stop speaking about the world and start speaking with it - where we release our need to control

And humans? We’re no different - only more complex. Our language was born to bind us together, to keep us alive. At first it was a rhythm between mouths and bodies reading danger before thought had time to form. A tone that soothed an infant, a touch that softened the pulse, scents that signalled safety or threat. The first words were likely sounds

The Bureau of Linguistical Reality

But when tokens could be literally anything, why are they currencies, points to be accumulated and POWER to be gained? I think it’s simply because these are the metaphors we all understand living under the sun of capitalism. What if instead of sending points you could send someone water or sunlight? Rather than having your power grow within a

while trivializing soul-destroying health problems, the metaphor inflates the significance of trivial ones.

I think of the act of naming as diagnosis. Though not all diagnosed diseases are curable, once you know what you’re facing, you’re far better equipped to know what you can do about it.

Honest naming is a kind of ethical responsibility. We have a moral duty not to simply accept a harmful narrative, even if it comes cloaked in positive associations as a result of tradition, efforts by the powerful to preserve that power, or ignorance. We must not cave in to peer pressure from dead people.