The Power of Words
After incessant pestering by a few friends, I finally decided to take a break from the sweltering mess that my life has become and watch a movie. I urgently needed the rest and began ruffling through the “Movies” section in the newspaper trying to find a dull film that would put me to sleep (I find that the vastly overpriced movie seats provide the most refreshing two-hour naps).
When I arrived at the theater, I found my friends waiting at the scarcely used mini box office for foreign and “other” movies. The very last thing I was looking for was a thought-provoking film, but everyone was intent on watching a movie called ‘What the bleep do we know’.
Needless to say, I got no rest but I was very interested in one segment of the movie that detailed a new study that visually illustrated the power of words. The research was done by a Japanese scientist, Masaru Emoto, who found a way to measure the effects of different words on water. Emoto wrapped vials of water with different words and let them rest for a few days. After this, he crystallized the liquid on slides by freezing them and studied the results under a simple, light microscope.
What he found was that “positive” words (more likely words that humans have generally assigned a positive sensation) created beautiful, regular crystals while “negative” words created disfigured crystals or none at all. A page from the movie’s website shows a few of the most interesting results.
Obviously, a random collection of shapes that form a language do not in themselves contain any power. It is the collected mental powers of the language’s users who associate experiences with emotions, and emotions with language.
The power is available to anyone and a quote from Stephen King’s “On Writing Well” comes to my attention when I think about the energy unleashed by writing:
“You must not come lightly to the blank page.”
That could not be truer, especially considering over 70% of our world and bodies are water!
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