LANGUAGE

It is marvelous, being humanity's only creation that can simultaneously simplify the complex, and complicate the simple. It is essential for contemplation, for conceptualization and for communication, but they are late in the thought process. So what comes before? What precedes language? The seed of thought is the essence of God: imagination The Bible says God spoke the universe into existence. That's communication. But what of the first three steps in the process? Since God created humanity in His image, one might conclude that His thought process is similar to ours, though infinitely superior in scope. God's speech was the engine of creation, so if His thought process is indeed similar to ours, He began with imagination. And what an imagination it is! Every detail of the cosmos, from the physical law that rules the material universe to the minute substructures within each living cell, occurred to Him as an idea. Our temporal minds can't wrap themselves around the infinite, eternal God. Somehow, He knew throughout eternity exactly how His creation would play out. At no point in eternity did he not see every detail of His universe, from beginning to end. Yet, He chose words--language--to bring about His creation. What power words have! As language users, we have the responsibility to communicate with care. What we say has its own effect, regardless what we intend by it. We cannot imagine what would have happened if God had misspoken His creation. Of course, that is impossible, because by definition, anything God speaks is perfect. But we don't enjoy perfection as one of our attributes. Unlike God, we can accidentally destroy when intending to build up. Language is at once, our blessing and our curse. What it does in our hands is our responsibility. And its fruit will judge us.