DEFINITION

A statement of the meaning of a word, word group, or a sign, or symbol.

Clarity of visual presentation, distinctness of outline or detail.

See Individual Perspective…

As a writer it is easy to conceptualize words as meanings and this is not a trait peculiar to writers alone, it is the very definition of language from which communication gains credence.

We live life driven by the pursuit of meaning or in meaninglessness awaiting purposeful clarifications. Yet, no matter how perceptive we are, we are limited by our tainted glasses and subconscious biases.

The acquisition of these biases is by sheer assimilation. They require little to no participation on our part. We internalize many contrary ideologies subconsciously, false realities and speculative agendas and think we originally came up with these ideas because they have been part of us for as long as we could inhabit thoughts that the external influence is hard to distinguish from our deepest thought construct.

A proverb in the Yoruba language translates to mean that half a word is enough for the wise because upon introspection the wise person can deduce the deeper meaning.

This is assuming that the word spoken to that wise is capable of invoking the entire depth inferred. What if the perspective of that wise detracts from what the elders meant to communicate? What if the cumulation of all these half-spoken words means that no one has the full picture?

Who was the first ancestral elder that started this spoken one word?

To what extent do deceptive perceptions skew our interpretations?

What if all the definitions we have acquired as our presenting identity is false and we haven’t met our deepest self?

How is correctness assumed? is it that there is no wrong thing to know? Or that all knowledge is good? or is it what we do with knowledge that determines its quality?

What makes values right? is it because every other person says it is right that it is?or because intrinsically we know what is right?

How can we measure individual goodness? popular opinion? trauma? experience? instinct?

What if your instincts are predatory therefore prejudicial to those around you and even yourself?

The thing about definitions is that they assume their meaning. Is it possible that how we define a phenomenon shapes our interaction with it?

What is the correct definition of friendship for example or love?

What is perfection? Is the focus of definition meaning? what if meaninglessness is existentially definitive?

More often than not, the most contemplated definition is usually about success in life and how that relates to our identity as an individual in society. The constant need for reinvention and definition of self in the various phase we find ourselves as we orbit our existence.

The important question is are things definitive or do we hold the power to bring definitions? I am more inclined to the latter.

I think experiences, words, memories are neutral, it is the meaning we evoke upon them that gives them potency.