If priority were given to one part of the body, it would have to be the brain. Everything you do (running, jumping, singing, working, playing, etc.), everything you think (ideas, thoughts, concepts, beliefs etc.), and everything you feel (pain, anger, love joy, etc.) is controlled by your brain. It is the center of the central nervous system, connected to every part of your body. It is the lens through which you perceive the world around you, the sponge through which you absorb information, and the processor that makes it all make sense.
As the cliché goes, "whatever the mind can believe, it can achieve." So much potential is tucked behind our foreheads, in fact, that American writer James Lane Allen (1849-1925) declared, “You cannot escape the results of your thoughts. Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain or rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal.” In other words, the quality and success of our lives is largely determined by what we allow to fill the space between our ears-regardless of our circumstance, race, wealth, sex, prior accomplishments or other external influences. Although this concept is very easy to teach and to adopt, it can be quite difficult to gauge how well we are applying it in our every-day lives. Can the quality of our intangible thoughts and abstract ideas be tested, checked, weighed or calculated? Despite the seeming impossibility of this task, there is one way to measure which does just that: examining our use of language.
Language is to thinking what a mirror is to reflection. Without a mirror how could anyone know what he or she looks like; likewise, without language how could the workings of the human-mind ever be known? Language reflects thoughts, desires, feelings, and ideas from the mind into the real world, helping what was once intangible and abstract become tangible and concrete. It is the means by which dreams and ideals, loves and fears, plans and desires are conveyed from one person to another. It is the channel through which the power and potential of the human mind can pour. In essence, language is the essence of human function.
So, what is it with this essence that is so essential to our lives? How does our ability to communicate impact our lives and the world around us? Consider some examples.
Gutenberg
Several centuries after the birth of Christ, many people lived in highly-illiterate times we now call the Dark Ages. Because writing was a laborious and time-consuming task, reading was a privilege reserved for nobles and priests who then shared their knowledge with the rest of the people-people who, without education, led simple, impoverished lives. Then came Gutenberg and his printing press. In the mid-1400s Johannes Gutenberg invented the moveable-type printing press, making mass production of literature practical, and soon books such as the Bible were available to the common folk. Suddenly, from poor, simple, ignorant Western Europe came an explosion of philosophers, scientists, explorers, writers, and musicians. It was called the “Enlightenment” and the “Great Awakening” as floods of brilliance washed over the land. The simple invention of the printing press-and the subsequent availability of written language-stimulated the human mind to heights which had been unreachable for centuries.
Common Sense
Three hundred years later, language played a critical role in the formation of the United States of America. In 1776 war had broken out between the American Colonies and Great Britain, pitting a rag-tag colonial army against finely-trained troops of the world's largest empire. That same year Thomas Paine, a recent American immigrant, published Common Sense, a pamphlet in which he denounced British rule and implored the American Colonies to form their own country. In words which were both eloquent and moving, Paine declared,
…we have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the events of a few months.
Paine's words helped galvanize the colonists to face and defeat the most powerful army in the world. Words were written; people were inspired; a nation was born. Language was power.
Modern Advances
The world today has become a fast-paced, high-tech arena of information. Since the days of the Revolutionary War, progress made in science, medicine, technology, and communication has brought the world closer together than ever before. Electricity, telephones, cars, airplanes, radios, television, penicillin, heart transplants, vaccinations, and the internet are just a few of the modern advances we enjoy today. But could any of these have come about without the expressive power of language to develop, share, and create ideas? Quite simply, they could not; for without language, scientific investigation would never have become globally organized, medical advances would not have been shared around the world, Henry Ford could never have mass-produced cars, knowledge of flight would have remained with the Wright brothers, and Alexander Graham Bell would have had nobody to talk to. Clearly, language is the catalyst which caused the creation of our comfortable world.
Micro and Macro Language
In a sense, language is both macro and micro in scope. Not only is it capable of changing the world and influencing nations, but it also has the power to shape and define our everyday lives. If we use it carefully, language will enrich our relationships, strengthen our ability to succeed, and help us to be happy, but if we don't, it can mire us with misunderstanding, drag into defeat, and give us gloom. Language determines how well we relate with family members, how well we get along with our neighbors, how well we work with our coworkers, and how highly we think of ourselves. The quality of these relationships is an indicator of how well we are using language (and consequently our minds) in our daily lives.
Our use of language is a choice. Our minds are greater than our circumstances. Negative thoughts translate to negative language, and that creates a negative life-but there never was anything which could force anyone to have negative thoughts. Whether or not we succeed in life, whether or not we have good relationships, whether or not we achieve great things, and whether or not we are happy depends on how we choose to use our minds and our language. Micro or macro, language is the essence of human function because every aspect of our lives hinges upon the way we use it.
Perhaps James Allen would allow us to state that we (as a society and individuals) cannot escape the results of our language, that our rising, remaining, and falling is determined by our use of language. Stories of the Abraham Lincolns, Martin Luther Kings, Shakespeares, Ghandis, and Churchills will have to wait for another day; yet, from the examples of Gutenberg, Paine, and so many modern pioneers we can begin to appreciate the power of the human mind. It is the power by which history was created and the future is yet to be made: a power as limitless as our minds, as great as our imaginations, and as vast as our courage will permit. It is a power manifested, quite simply, through our use of language.
