Words Create Worlds

Every trade has its own unique tools. The tool of the mathematician is numbers, for the carpenter it is his hammer, and for the writer it is words. In order to become a great writer one must first understand the philosophy associated with writing and how words are put together in a way that will attract the reader.

Writing is more than simply stringing words together. It is an art and there are basic principles that will guide the writer in the effort of creating a book that will communicate what his mind has discovered and his spirit has seen. Writing is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. There are many pieces to the puzzle and the good writer knows how to find those pieces and put them in their proper place.

ABRAHAM HESCHEL, a Jewish Philosopher, was an active participant in the Civil Rights movement in the 60s and often marched with Martin Luther King. In 1938 Heschel was arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Poland. Six weeks before the German invasion of Poland he left for London and then eventually ended up in New York where he became part of the faculty at Jewish Theological Seminar of America. Heschel’s sister Esther was killed in a German bombing. His mother was murdered by the Nazis, and two other sisters, Gittel and Devorah, died in Nazi concentration camps. One of the books in my library is God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism and is a companion volume to Man is Not Alone. The spiritual realities unveiled in his writings are drawn from a well of rich contemplation on the nature of God and His deep love for man.

God in Search of Man is provides an amazing analyses of “Awe,” “Wonder,” and “Glory.” He rips these words out of their religious context making them live for the reader. Heschel was the master of using words to create dramatic images of the unseen realities.

In one of his conversations with his young daughter. Heschel maed this incredible statement: “Words create Worlds.”

The preeminent writers of the past and present understand this truth and how words can create or confuse. By our words we can create new worlds that are multidimensional and come to the reader in living color. Or, we can simply add to the confusion and boredom that already exists in the Christian culture.

Another Jewish writer, Ellie Wiesel, put it this way. “Writers help readers construct larger, more expansive frames of reference so that more of God and our world can be accurately perceived. This is called change writing. Writers are cultural brokers for the world of ideas. Our job is to share as best as we can what we know. “words can sometimes, in moments of grace, attain the quality of deed.”

Writers should be culture brokers that are not afraid of the margins of life. Through their words they become bridges between that which is seen and that which is not so easily seen. They pay attention to what their subject is trying to teach them. They pause to analyze and examine what others so easily miss.

William Blake, the distinguish English mystic described it well with these words. “In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.” The great challenge of the writer is to find those doors and through the power of their words lead others to the open door.

Advertisement