I’ve been watching a video series about the history of Germany and how the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire as a religious and political power created a culture which paved the way for intellectual growth.
Information during the Middle Ages was of great value. Every single book was “printed” by hand and a low percentage of the population could read or write.
Languages were largely carried forth verbally and more than anything else was the major factor behind unifying people into political groups.
Nations were named after their language, not the other way around. People became unified because they understood each other. They had similar situations because of their geography and therefore understood each other in speech as well as situation.
The Roman Empire morphed into the Roman Catholic Church, and the institution spread unity across Europe. It was used to define allegiance to a political system of monarchies.
The church developed monasteries and universities where books were written and dispersed throughout the network of this religious structure. The church controlled information. So it decided what this information would be, what language it would be carried forth in and how it would then be interpreted to the people in the villages.
Words were valuable. The books they “printed” were meant to endure, and still do endure over a thousand years later. Huge libraries were created to store the books and immense collections were gathered over time from books printed one letter at a time. In itself, this accomplishment was the foundation of the cultural power that grew developed in Germany, France, England, Italy and Spain.
Ironically, it is pointed out that the scientific work being done in the culture of Islam was way ahead of the Christian culture, where much of science was seen as heresy, against God. In this time, Judaism was scattered to the four winds and was developed a tradition of trading. Hebrew was one of the first languages to emerge with a written law for a belief system, but during these feudal times doesn’t seem to play a role in the development of medieval Europe.
The control of information was vital to establishing power. Words became law, and everyone was expected to follow them. Latin was the unifying language of the church and it spread throughout Europe as the secret code to communicate with God. The only place to learn was in the church.
The church controlled the minds of Europe. The development of a royal class was largely due to the validity given to them as being ordained by God to be in control of society, everyone else was born into the mass of the general population, serfs. So, some families were chosen by God to rule and most were just serfs whose jobs it was to serve the ruling class. After all, the word serf is curiously close to the word serve.
Written words give validity to ideas. If it isn’t written somewhere an idea is perceived as having no basis. So, the only people who can make laws are those people who can read and write.
Literacy is the foundation of all power. But, literacy has changed over the years. There are many forms of literacy and just as in feudal times, 90% of the population are illiterate when it comes to legal documents, computer language and math.
Being able to read the language of law today is all important, but few can do it and they are the ones who run government. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with it, after all, would you want people who couldn’t read to run the government?
But, literacy today goes far past the ability to read and understand the truth behind a book like Huckleberry Finn, which sadly most of today’s society don’t, won’t or can’t read.
And what about writing? Most people don’t write either, at any level.
So the development of society while being driven to become an educated society, really is becoming an illiterate one. Easily the vast majority of society does not read a book, write a book or even write a letter anymore. Most people don’t even go to the trouble of writing an email.
Again we communicate verbally through the telephone or some sort of online service like skype, and why write a letter when a phone call will do? Why take the time to read a letter when someone can just read it for you it?
Even today, what is written is deemed valid. Unless you have a written document stating that something is a fact, it isn’t a fact. The only way you can prove you paid for something is if you have a receipt for it.
Therefore, contracts, laws and all forms of agreements are written out to cover every conceivable angle that a matter could possess so that everyone can understand it. If something is left out, then you do an amendment, you add to it. Making for more words, more paragraphs and more information making those who can read and write those words more and more powerful as those who can’t lose their power.
What value do words have? Words define value. The ability to speak a language determines your value in the world. Today there are many languages and the language you don’t speak could be the one that determines your type of life you are going to have.
In fact, general knowledge is great, but specific knowledge is what makes you valuable and powerful.
For me, writing words down shows me what I am thinking. By reviewing those words later I can tell whether what I think is correct, good and useful.
What languages exist that can have a powerful effect on your life?
Well, the languages of law, finance and science are very important. One thing these laws have in common is the language of Latin, which still unifies the scientific world because the names of things are described in Latin. Homo sapiens, for instance, is Latin. So, being fluent in Latin would give you an advantage in these fields, yet, Latin is viewed as a dead language because nobody speaks it. But, written, it is still a powerful language, because the majority of western language comes from it in some way.
But, the languages of math and science are very specific, just like the terminology used on a sailing vessel are specific and special to that realm. If you are on a sailboat, there are a lot of things that have names for them, but the novice doesn’t know those names and they all get called a “thing”. In a storm, the command, “Grab that thing” doesn’t help much.
Today, there is a lot to learn. You have to have your own specific realm of expertise so that you are powerful and valuable in a certain realm, but it is also important to be literate in finance, math and science as well as law so that you don’t make mistakes out of ignorance.
Really, all education is about literacy. The ability to speak and write the languages of words, math, science, finance, law and the arts is what determine your value to yourself and to society.
The real abomination comes when you are literate in these laws and ignore them, or use them to obscure truth. Today, it is assumed that you know the laws, so you had better know them and follow them. Today, you are accountable for yourself regardless of whether you did something on purpose or out of ignorance.
The real separation in society today is the same as it was back in the middle ages, those who control information and those who don’t. Today, still, 90% of the population are out of control, not because they don’t want to be in control, but because there is so much information out there to know.
This brings me to a final point. Illustration.
The mind remembers in pictures, not in words. So, the word water in english is mentally the same word as wasser to someone who speaks german. So, essentially, everyone does possess the same language, because the language of life is sensory, visual, audible, tactile, in taste and smell.
So in order to understand our lives fully, it is important to illustrate it, so you can look at it and say, that is right and that is wrong. A picture paints a thousand words, an illustration does as well and much of what we do in life can be arranged in pictogram of some kind, so we can view our lives all on one page.
This can make it possible to edit your life. You can see what you can throw out, what you can keep and what you can get better. Mind maps are a good way to do this.
However, studying it won’t make it so. You actually have to take action to make it happen. A thing isn’t gone until it is gone forever. To make sure something is gone forever, you have to erase it from existence. You have to eliminate it in words and in deeds.
Taking care of business is all about doing this work. The work of life is organizing information and the things in your life so you have all of what you want and need, not more and certainly not less.
Education is about learning the languages that you need to have a successful life. You cannot control your destiny if you cannot define it.
The value of words, of languages and of illustrations in our lives is great. Master them and success is almost guaranteed.