SchindlersWord

the origin of humanity

Words

Improve on mistaking words for language with one simple technique

By In Words

You can improve on mistaking words for language with one simple technique:

Don’t do it.

Mistaking one word for another is the biggest mistake you can make.

Therefore, the big advice I have for you, my friend, is this: Don’t do it.

I know what I’m talking about.

From personal experience.

Einstein

Maybe you know him, but that’s not who I’m talking about.

I’m talking about an altogether different thing, a (Swiss) TV show called Einstein that “reports weekly on current and profound topics from all areas of knowledge.”

On June 1st, Einstein’s (the TV show) topic of knowledge was “Miracles of language.”

Einstein (the TV show) “Miracles of Language”

Who wouldn’t want to know, of all things, about miracles?

I don’t know you, but I for my part decided to watch it.

Only to discover there are zero miracles involved. Instead of miracles, Einstein (the TV show) simply mistook words for language.

At the risk of repeating myself, it’s the biggest mistake because it prevents anyone making it from knowing the first thing about either.

It turns out that Einstein (the TV show) simply confirms what everybody knows: There are no exceptions.

Mistake words for language

Mistaking words for language is a common mistake among word-users.

Equally common among the word-users is that they love to blame mistakes on each other or, failing that, on something else.

In this case, the something else is the world wide web because it not only gobbles up and spits out more words faster than anything invented for that purpose before, but also because it is more than the word-users can cope with.

  • “A word is a basic element of language.” – Wikipedia “the world’s most-read reference work” (click here for the full take of Wikipedia’s take on word).
  • “The English language contains several hundred thousand different words.” – ComputerHope “the free computer help since 1998.”
  • “Word: A single unit of language.” – The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary
  • “A modern dictionary for a modern world that represents language visually.” – VISUWORDS™
  • To name just a few BIG mistakes on the world wide web.

Conditioned like that, is it any wonder that the word-users and their children routinely mistake words for language?

I think not, but from Einstein (the TV show), I expected more than simply more of the same.

You can ask why of course.

After all, that’s what words are for.

Fact: Anyone mistaking words for language doesn’t know the first thing about either.

To illustrate, let me briefly tell the stories of both words and language.

With language a word, let’s begin with the story of words first.

The story of words

The story of words with the Before Words and the After Words, and the wordless and the wordy worlds.

In the wordless world

In the wordless world, mistake, language, universe, sun, stars, atoms, particles, energy, electricity, fire, air, earth, water, insects, plants, animals, and newborns, to name a few, don’t exist for self-evident reasons.

In the wordy world

In the wordy world, mistake, language, universe, sun, moon, stars, atoms, particles, energy, electricity, fire, air, earth, water, insect, plant, animal, and newborn, to name a few, exist for equally self-evident reasons.

But there’s more to it.

In the wordy world, the word-users know that word is taken by word, and language by language, that is, you cannot be somebody else because that somebody is already taken, and words are no exception.

What’s more, language and word don’t even look the same.

I’m not one to make up new opinions.

  • “In the beginning is the word.” – Word-masters
  • “Using words to talk of words is like using a pencil to draw a picture of itself, on itself.” – Patrick Rothfuss
  • “What a word means, a sentence cannot say.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein
  • Words are what you respond to.
  • Words are how you aim at what you’re looking for.
  • A word is in the beginning of everything you have a word for, you included.
  • Everything you know is a word.
  • The appearance of words have revolutionized evolution.
  • Words have not only changed everything you have a word for, they create it.
  • Like it or not, words are a gift we’re meant to keep.
  • Words don’t describe the world, they merely describe how we see it.
  • Words have not only changed what we see, but how we see.
  • Words are the boundaries of your environment. Once you see that, they cease to be the boundaries of your environment.
  • Words are not taught at school.
  • The story of words is not told anywhere.*
  • Word-masters have know that in the beginning is the word since the beginning of words.
  • Words tend to get mistaken for evidence, and we often treat them that way.
  • If you have a word for it, it’s a word.
  • We love to use our words.
  • If you ignore what words can do to you, then you can have no empathy for what words can do to others.
  • Words do not matter (they possess zero electric charge).
  • Words have no meaning.
  • Words can be denied only by confirming them.
  • You can bet your life on it.
  • Call it a dream, it doesn’t change anything.

*Except here and here .

If word-users mistook their friends for their enemies, their friends would speak up.

However, expecting words to speak up when they’re mistaken for language presupposes that words have the organs required to care.

Well, words don’t.

The story of language

Language is a French word.

Language is based on the equally French langue, which in English is tongue.

Had those in charge of English taken the pain to translate words from far away places, we wouldn’t now be talking of language but of tonguage instead.

Put differently, we’d know what we, the world wide web, and the TV shows are talking about.

Luckily, it’s never too late to have a happy childhood.

To help you with that, we’re not the only specie with tongues. In fact, Earth’s other 8.7 million species of insects, plants, and animals are born in the wordless world.

In other words, the tonguages in the wordless world are wordless, also known as non-verbal, and the number of tonguages is equal to the number of species with tongues.

“Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words?” – Marcel Marceau

Improve on mistaking words for language with one simple technique

Many word-users mistake words for language, is usually how it works.

If that’s you, you can stop making the mistake with one simple technique:

Don’t do it.

Why bother?

Mistaking one word for another is the biggest mistake you can make.

Don’t do it.

For your own good and for the good of others.

I know what I’m talking about from personal experience.

Einstein

Maybe you know him, but that’s not what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about an altogether different Einstein, a (Swiss) TV show that “reports weekly on current and profound topics from all areas of knowledge.”

On June 1st, Einstein-the-TV-show’s topic of knowledge was “Miracles of language.”

Einstein (the TV show) “Miracles of Language”

Who wouldn’t want to know everything there is to know about miracles?

I don’t know about you, but I decided to watch it…only to discover a total absence of miracles. Instead of miracles, Einstein-the-TV-show simply did what many word-users do, they mistook words for language.

It’s the biggest mistake you can make because it prevents you from knowing the first thing about either.

When you mistake one word for another, such as words for language, Einstein-the-TV-show inadvertently confirms there are no exceptions, not even a TV show that is usually a 10 out of 10.

Mistake words for language

Mistaking words for language is a common mistake among word-users.

Word-users do not only often mistake words for language, but they just as often love to blame their mistakes on each other, or failing that, on something else.

In the case of mistaking words for language, they love to blame it on the world wide web, also known as the internet.

The internet gobbles up, stores, and disseminates more words faster than anything invented for that purpose before.

This is how the internet mistakes words for language.

  • “A word is a basic element of language.” – Wikipedia “the world’s most-read reference work” (click here for the complete work of Wikipedia’s word).
  • “The English language contains several hundred thousand different words.” – ComputerHope “the free computer help since 1998.”
  • “Word: A single unit of language.” – The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary
  • “A modern dictionary for a modern world that represents language visually.” – VISUWORDS™
  • To name a few

Conditioned like that, is it any wonder that the word-users and their children routinely mistake words for language?

I think not, but from Einstein-the-TV-show I expected more than simply more of the same.

You can ask why of course.

After all, that’s what words are for.

To illustrate, let me briefly tell the stories of both words and language.

With language a word that couldn’t be anything else if it tried, let me tell the story of words first.

The story of words

Before Words and After Words, the wordless and the wordy worlds.

In the wordless world

In the wordless world Before Words — which continues as we speak — nothing that you have a word for exists for self-evident reasons.

In the wordy world

In the wordy world After Words, everything you know is a word.mistake, language, universe, sun, moon, stars, atoms, particles, energy, electricity, fire, air, earth, water, insect, plant, animal, and newborn, to name a few, exist for equally self-evident reasons.

But there’s more to it.

Word-users can clearly see that words and language are different words. They don’t even look the same. Just as you cannot be someone else because that someone else is already taken, so words is taken by words and language is already taken by language.

There are no exceptions to this rule.

I’m not one to make up new opinions.

  • “In the beginning is the word.” – Word-masters
  • “Using words to talk of words is like using a pencil to draw a picture of itself, on itself.” – Patrick Rothfuss
  • “What a word means, a sentence cannot say.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein
  • Everything you have a word for is a word.
  • Everything you know is a word.
  • Words are what you respond to.
  • Words are how you aim at what you’re looking for.
  • A word is in the beginning of everything you have a word for, you included.
  • The appearance of words has revolutionized evolution.
  • Words have not only changed everything you have a word for, they create it.
  • Words are a gift we’re meant to keep.
  • Words don’t describe the world, they merely describe how we see it.
  • Words have not only changed what we see, but how we see.
  • Words are the limits of your world. Once you see that, they cease to be the limits of your world.
  • Words are not taught at school.
  • The story of words is not told.
  • Word-masters have known that in the beginning is the word since the beginning of words.
  • Word-users love to use their words.
  • Words tend to get mistaken for evidence, and we often treat them that way.
  • If you have a word for it, it’s a word.
  • If you ignore what words can do to you, then you can have no empathy for what words can do to others.
  • Words do not matter (they possess zero electric charge).
  • Words have no meaning.
  • Words can be denied only by confirming them.
  • Words defy our understanding of how evolution works.

Call it a dream, it doesn’t change anything.

In the wordy world, Part 2

If word-users mistook their friends for their enemies, their friends would speak up.

However, expecting words to speak up presupposes they have the organs required to speak.

The story of language

Language is a French word.

Language the French word is based on the equally French langue.

Translated to English, the French langue becomes tongue.

Had those in charge of English words taken the pain to translate language, we would now be talking of tonguage.

In other words, we’d now know what we’re talking about.

Luckily, it’s never too late to have a happy childhood.

Luckily, it’s never too late to learn that we’re not the only specie with a tongue.

Many of the other 8.7 million animals have tongues, too.

It follows that the number of tonguages spoken is equal to the number animals with tongues.

“Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words?” – Marcel Marceau

#BRUTALLY HONEST WARNING#: Words don’t matter

By In Words

Who am I to tell you that words don’t matter?

You can say that as the author of THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY, I don’t have a clue what I’m talking about.

But of this you may be sure: Words don’t matter.

Of course, I may be wrong.

I may be wrong simply because different things are said about words, depending on who or what is saying them.

With many word-users talking and nobody listening, it’s only obvious that nothing is believed until it’s true, and ever has it been that what to believe is a question of character and preference, to each their own.

No other word-user can decide what or whom to believe for you.

We live in a world of matter

We live in a world of matter, a realm of tiny particles far smaller than atoms that make up the universe as we know it. But there is a mystery.

Of all the particles discovered, the second strangest and second most elusive are the neutrinos, also known as the ghost particles.

But the strangest and most elusive of them all is the word.

The word defies our understanding of how the universe works.

Hunting for the word

Inside the world-renowned laboratory Fermilab, in Illinois, USA, scientists are hunting for the word, unsuccessfully so far, because the word has even less electric charge than the ghost particles they’re also hunting for at Fermilab.

Fact is, electric charge and matter don’t exist until they are observed by an instrument that can detect them. But words have none. Words have no electric charge whatsoever, hence they are void of matter.

That’s why words cannot be detected inside of a word-user, even by the world’s most sensitive detector in existence, the LUX-Zeplin, in South Dakota, USA.

If people anywhere in the world could detect matter in a word, it would transform our understanding of the fabric of the universe.  

Decision time

You have two choices.

You can believe:

  • Words are void of matter (zero electric charge).
  • Words are what you respond to.
  • Words are how you aim at what you’re looking for.
  • Words are in the beginning of everything you have a word for, you included.

In other words, if you have a word for it, it’s a word, and everything you know is a word.

Last but not least, a word can be denied only by confirming it.

You can bet your life on it.

Call it a dream, it doesn’t change anything.

Or

Or you can believe what you read about words elsewhere.

To know what that is, relax.

I did the hard work for you.

To discover what that is, scroll down to the end of this post.

Call to action

It’s decision time.

It’s time to believe between either of two things being said about words as we speak:

What you read here.

Or what you read elsewhere.

No other word-user can decide it for you.

If not now, then when?

PS.

If so inclined, click here for “Word Quotes Worth Reading Twice”

What you read about words elsewhere

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

“A word is a speech sound or a combination of sounds, or its representation in writing, that symbolizes and communicates a meaning and may consist of a single morpheme or a combination of morphemes.”

Wikipedia (the world’s most read reference work)

“A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguists on its definition and numerous attempts to find specific criteria of the concept remain controversial. Different standards have been proposed, depending on the theoretical background and descriptive context; these do not converge on a single definition. Some specific definitions of the term “word” are employed to convey its different meanings at different levels of description, for example based on phonological, grammatical or orthographic basis. Others suggest that the concept is simply a convention used in everyday situations. The concept of “word” is distinguished from that of a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of language that has a meaning, even if it cannot stand on its own. Words are made out of at least one morpheme. Morphemes can also be joined to create other words in a process of morphological derivation. In English and many other languages, the morphemes that make up a word generally include at least one root (such as “rock”, “god”, “type”, “writ”, “can”, “not”) and possibly some affixes (“-s”, “un-“, “-ly”, “-ness”). Words with more than one root (“[type][writ]er”, “[cow][boy]s”, “[tele][graph]ically”) are called compound words. In turn, words are combined to form other elements of language, such as phrases (“a red rock”, “put up with”), clauses (“I threw a rock”), and sentences (“I threw a rock, but missed”). In many languages, the notion of what constitutes a “word” may be learned as part of learning the writing system. This is the case for the English language, and for most languages that are written with alphabets derived from the ancient Latin or Greek alphabets. In English orthography, the letter sequences “rock”, “god”, “write”, “with”, “the”, and “not” are considered to be single-morpheme words, whereas “rocks”, “ungodliness”, “typewriter”, and “cannot” are words composed of two or more morphemes (“rock”+”s”, “un”+”god”+”li”+”ness”, “type”+”writ”+”er”, and “can”+”not”).

ComputerHope

“Word may refer to any of the following: 1. When referring to a word processor, Word is short for Microsoft Word. 2. In general, a word is a single element of verbal communication with a unique meaning or use. For example, this sentence contains seven words. The English language contains several hundred thousand different words and Computer Hope lists over 15,000 computer-related words in its computer dictionary. Word classes or parts of speech are categories of English words that help you construct good sentences. These categories are noun, verb, adjective, adverb, determiner, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. In computing, a word is a single unit of measurement that is assumed to be a 16-bits in length value. However, it can be any set value, common word size values included: 16, 18, 24, 32, 36, 40, 48, and 64.”

Merriam-Webster

Click on Word Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster to see if you can believe Merriam-Webster’s take on words.

Merriam-Webster also wants you to believe that “a real word is when the word word has a wide range of meanings and uses in English. Yet one of the most often looked for pieces of information regarding word is not something that would be found in its definition. Instead, it is some variant of the question, What makes a word a real word? One of the most prolific areas of change and variation in English is vocabulary; new words are constantly being coined to name or describe new inventions or innovations, or to better identify aspects of our rapidly changing world. Constraints of time, money, and staff would make it impossible for any dictionary, no matter how large, to capture a fully comprehensive account of all the words in the language. And even if such a leviathan reference was somehow fashioned, the dictionary would be obsolete the instant it was published as speakers and writers continued generating new terms to meet their constantly changing needs. Most general English dictionaries are designed to include only those words that meet certain criteria of usage across wide areas and over extended periods of time (for more details about how words are chosen for dictionary entry, read “How does a word get into a Merriam-Webster dictionary?” in our FAQ). As a result, they may omit words that are still in the process of becoming established, those that are too highly specialized, or those that are so informal that they are rarely documented in professionally edited writing. But the words left out are as real as those that gain entry; the former simply haven’t met the criteria for dictionary entry–at least not yet (newer ones may ultimately gain admission to the dictionary’s pages if they gain sufficient use). However, in preparing your own writings, it is worth remembering that the dictionary encompasses the most widely used terms in English. Words that are left out may have usage limited to specific, isolated, or informal contexts, so they should be used carefully.

Oxford Learners

“Word is a single unit of language that means something and can be spoken or written.”

#BRUTALLY HONEST WARNING#: Words don’t matter

Who am I to tell you that words don’t matter?

You can say that as the author of THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY, I don’t have a clue what I’m talking about.

But of this you may be sure: Words don’t matter.

Of course, I may be wrong.

I may be wrong simply because different things are being said about words as we speak, depending on who or what is saying them.

With many talking and nobody listening, everybody knows that nothing is believed until it’s true, and that whom or what to believe is a question of word-user character and preferences, to each their own.

No other word or word-user can decide it for you.

We live in a world of matter

We live in a world of matter.

Unless you live in a cave on a distant planet, I have reasons to believe you’ve heard of “e = mc²”.

Tiny particles far smaller than atoms make up the universe as we know it.

But there is a mystery.

Of all the particles discovered, the 2nd strangest and 2nd most elusive are the neutrinos, also known as the ghost particles.

But the strangest and most elusive of all the matter in the universe is the word.

Words defy our understanding of how the universe works.

Hunting for the word

Inside the world-renowned laboratory Fermilab, in Illinois, USA, scientists are hunting unsuccessfully for the word because the word has even less electric charge than the ghost particles.

Electric charge, hence matter, doesn’t exist until it is observed by an instrument that can detect it.

But words have no electric charge. Words are void of matter.

In other words, words don’t matter.

It’s impossible for even the world’s most sensitive detector, the LUX-Zeplin in South Dakota, USA, to detect a word inside of a word-user’s body or brain.

If the impossible were possible — if word-users could detect matter in a word — it would transform our understanding of the universe.

In the beginning is the word

You don’t have to be a word-master to know what in the beginning is the word means.

But you must know how it all began.

In the beginning (of everything you have a word for) is the word.
In the beginning (of everything you have a word for) is the word.
Before Words

Above marked in red, nothing that you now have a word for exists in the wordless world Before Words.

After Words

Equally marked in red, everything you now have a word for exists in the wordy world After Words because in the beginning is the word.

That’s how humanity, you, and everything else you have a word for began.

Takeaway

I’m not one to make up new opinions.

You have two choices.

You can believe:

  • “In the beginning is the word.” – Word-masters
  • “Using words to talk of words is like using a pencil to draw a picture of itself, on itself.” – Patrick Rothfuss
  • “What a word means, a sentence cannot say.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein
  • Words are a prison, but even a prison is a home if you have the key.
  • Everything you have a word for is a word.
  • Everything you know is a word.
  • Words are what you respond to.
  • Words are how you aim at what you’re looking for.
  • A word is in the beginning of everything you have a word for, you included.
  • The appearance of words has revolutionized evolution.
  • Words have not only changed everything you have a word for, they create it.
  • Words are a gift we’re meant to keep.
  • Words don’t describe the world, they merely describe how we see it.
  • Words have not only changed what we see, but how we see.
  • Words are the limits of your world. Once you see that, they cease to be the limits of your world.
  • Words are not taught at school.
  • The story of words is not told.
  • Word-masters have know that in the beginning is the word since the beginning of words.
  • Word-users love to use their words.
  • Words tend to get mistaken for evidence, and we often treat them that way.
  • If you have a word for it, it’s a word.
  • If you ignore what words can do to you, then you can have no empathy for what words can do to others.
  • Words do not matter (they possess zero electric charge).
  • Words have no meaning.
  • Words can be denied only by confirming them.
  • Words defy our understanding of how the universe and evolution work.

Call it a dream, it doesn’t change anything.

Or

Or you can believe what you read about words elsewhere.

To know what that is, relax, I did the hard work for you and to discover what that is, scroll down to the end of this post.

Call to action

It’s decision time.

It’s time to believe between either of two things being said about words as we speak:

What you read here.

Or what you read elsewhere.

No other word-user can decide it for you.

If not now, then when?

PS.

If so inclined, click here for “Word Quotes Worth Reading Twice”

What you read about words elsewhere

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

“A word is a speech sound or a combination of sounds, or its representation in writing, that symbolizes and communicates a meaning and may consist of a single morpheme or a combination of morphemes.”

Wikipedia (the world’s most read reference work)

“A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguists on its definition and numerous attempts to find specific criteria of the concept remain controversial. Different standards have been proposed, depending on the theoretical background and descriptive context; these do not converge on a single definition. Some specific definitions of the term “word” are employed to convey its different meanings at different levels of description, for example based on phonological, grammatical or orthographic basis. Others suggest that the concept is simply a convention used in everyday situations. The concept of “word” is distinguished from that of a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of language that has a meaning, even if it cannot stand on its own. Words are made out of at least one morpheme. Morphemes can also be joined to create other words in a process of morphological derivation. In English and many other languages, the morphemes that make up a word generally include at least one root (such as “rock”, “god”, “type”, “writ”, “can”, “not”) and possibly some affixes (“-s”, “un-“, “-ly”, “-ness”). Words with more than one root (“[type][writ]er”, “[cow][boy]s”, “[tele][graph]ically”) are called compound words. In turn, words are combined to form other elements of language, such as phrases (“a red rock”, “put up with”), clauses (“I threw a rock”), and sentences (“I threw a rock, but missed”). In many languages, the notion of what constitutes a “word” may be learned as part of learning the writing system. This is the case for the English language, and for most languages that are written with alphabets derived from the ancient Latin or Greek alphabets. In English orthography, the letter sequences “rock”, “god”, “write”, “with”, “the”, and “not” are considered to be single-morpheme words, whereas “rocks”, “ungodliness”, “typewriter”, and “cannot” are words composed of two or more morphemes (“rock”+”s”, “un”+”god”+”li”+”ness”, “type”+”writ”+”er”, and “can”+”not”).

ComputerHope

“Word may refer to any of the following: 1. When referring to a word processor, Word is short for Microsoft Word. 2. In general, a word is a single element of verbal communication with a unique meaning or use. For example, this sentence contains seven words. The English language contains several hundred thousand different words and Computer Hope lists over 15,000 computer-related words in its computer dictionary. Word classes or parts of speech are categories of English words that help you construct good sentences. These categories are noun, verb, adjective, adverb, determiner, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. In computing, a word is a single unit of measurement that is assumed to be a 16-bits in length value. However, it can be any set value, common word size values included: 16, 18, 24, 32, 36, 40, 48, and 64.”

Merriam-Webster

Click on Word Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster to see if you can believe Merriam-Webster’s take on words.

Merriam-Webster also wants you to believe that “a real word is when the word word has a wide range of meanings and uses in English. Yet one of the most often looked for pieces of information regarding word is not something that would be found in its definition. Instead, it is some variant of the question, What makes a word a real word? One of the most prolific areas of change and variation in English is vocabulary; new words are constantly being coined to name or describe new inventions or innovations, or to better identify aspects of our rapidly changing world. Constraints of time, money, and staff would make it impossible for any dictionary, no matter how large, to capture a fully comprehensive account of all the words in the language. And even if such a leviathan reference was somehow fashioned, the dictionary would be obsolete the instant it was published as speakers and writers continued generating new terms to meet their constantly changing needs. Most general English dictionaries are designed to include only those words that meet certain criteria of usage across wide areas and over extended periods of time (for more details about how words are chosen for dictionary entry, read “How does a word get into a Merriam-Webster dictionary?” in our FAQ). As a result, they may omit words that are still in the process of becoming established, those that are too highly specialized, or those that are so informal that they are rarely documented in professionally edited writing. But the words left out are as real as those that gain entry; the former simply haven’t met the criteria for dictionary entry–at least not yet (newer ones may ultimately gain admission to the dictionary’s pages if they gain sufficient use). However, in preparing your own writings, it is worth remembering that the dictionary encompasses the most widely used terms in English. Words that are left out may have usage limited to specific, isolated, or informal contexts, so they should be used carefully.

Oxford Learners

“Word is a single unit of language that means something and can be spoken or written.”

THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY (The book is out!)

By In Words

Hello everyk

Hello everyone, I’m in Switzerland and a little late to let you know that THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY — subtitled WHAT CAN BE DENIED ONLY BY CONFIRMING IT — is finally available (since March 13 this year) from Books on Demand: https://www.bod.de/buchshop/the-origin-of-humanity-beat-schindler-9783739247373.

Based on the fact that humanity is a word, for the first time ever, I recommend the paperback for €36.00, however,it is of course also available in ebook format for €14.99.

If you’re interested in how it all began and how we (humans and humanity), have come about, THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY will be well worth your energy and time.

Both versions of the book are also available from Amazon — look for “Beat Schindler Origin of Humanity” — or from local book stores wherever you are.

The paperback-price may differ because regional conditions may apply, but the Kindle version should be identical, respectively $14.99.

Either way, happy reading!

Do you want a fresh perspective now but cannot figure out how?

By In Words

What is FRESH PERSPECTIVE and why isn’t everybody talking about it?

Well, I haven’t lately told my readers about FRESH PERSPECTIVE, partly because I’ve been out for a large part of 2022 (for health reasons) and also because in the time since then, I’ve been busy doing research and publishing THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY, the new book now available in paperback and ebook from Books on Demand and Amazon.

THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY answers the questions of how it all began and how to move forward in an insanely uncertain world.

Biased for having written the book, as you’d expect, I’m acutely aware that it might offend certain word-users. But most of all I believe it is well worth reading for anyone interested in how we’ve come about.

If that’s not you, then please simply recommend THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY to your friends and acquaintances. Thank you for spreading the word!

FRESH PERSPECTIVE is the social media name of THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY on which FRESH PERSPECTIVE is based.

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates

“To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” – Buckminster Fuller

Both THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY and FRESH PERSPECTIVE are important and urgent contributions to making the Earth a better place for us to share with the other elements and species.

I believe that’s what brought you to this post, and if we begin with what we agree on, it’s easier to understand what I and this is all about.

It all began in my teenage years when I was still impressed by stories told by storytellers substantially taller and stronger than I was at the time — stories of worlds created by fictional characters, of promised lands, of humans and nature, separate from each otherm, of homo sapiens, and of mankind.

I was a handful back then, in my teenage years, and have remained so to this day, but hey, who wasn’t or isn’t, only to grow out of it when the time is right, to each their own.

It doesn’t mean I was convinced. All I’m saying is that I got used to it over time.

Now that my time has come, I can clearly see those early storytellers didn’t know what they were doing, nothing but pawns in their game, walls in their bricks, their teachings designed for the sole purpose of having me confused beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Whether a word-user is awake or asleep makes no difference.

“Call it a dream, it doesn’t change anything.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein

You cannot win with a losing hand, and a losing hand exists only in the world of the word-user’s for self-evident reasons.

In the word-user’s world it doesn’t matter a Dickie bird whether a story or a word happened or not. All that matters is they are believed. And everybody knows that when you tell or repeat a lie, you are the first to know, so, that’s what happens every time beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Sure, lies and stories have been told for thousands of years, with no end in sight. There’s nothing new about it, but if you don’t know the difference between the two, there’s nothing more a storyteller can do for you.

Words — of which stories are made — have changed the world more than any other event before or since. They can do it again if we give them a chance.

On the upside, you don’t have to wait for the world to begin, for when you change the way you look at words, your world changes instantly .

The proof’s in the pudding

What have words got to do with changing your personal world, you might ask? Well, all kinds of things are being said, depending on who is saying them, and what to believe, or not, is a question of personal character and preferences, to each their own.

Fact is, words don’t describe the world.

If words did in deed describe the world in truth, that means Google, Wikipedia, Merriam-Webster, Oxford, and ChatGPT (also depicted in the graph above) would be right, which clearly they are not.

They couldn’t be wronger if they tried.

Words do nothing but describe the truth how the word-users see it.

But the one who responds to the world will always be the word-user.

The best a word can do is co-respond

The same applies to god, universe, love, broken hearts, and life — in fact to everything you have a word for — for self-evident reasons.

Keep in mind that not long ago — when the age was stone, the Sahara green, Northern Europe under 1-mile thick ice, and writing hadn’t been invented yet — the first word-users were merely wishing for words. Now, a mere 10,000 years later, we’re drowning in them.

According to collins.co.uk there exist now 4.5 billion words in just English alone. You know I’m not making this up because I couldn’t even if I tried, and I’m not even trying. So, there you have it.

I share more thoughts about words and how to deal with them in my books, articles, and posts. Stay tuned for more on this topic — there’ll be much more at Schindlersword in the coming months.

I hope you’ll take a look.

Did you know that open heart surgery can be a curse and blessing? At the same time?

By In Quotes, Words

Wisdom I wish I’d known earlier

When a year ago I fainted, not for the first time, I ignored that open heart surgery can be both a blessing and curse at the same time.

Sure, there is nothing new about it. I had fainted twice before, back in my teenage years, when I banged my helmetless head against an ice rink and pool floor, but a year ago was my third faint and this time it was serious.

As a teenager, I used to believe what I was told. That means I believed even such bullshit as it makes a difference whether people are awake or asleep. But much water has gone under the bridge since, with lots of other stuff too.

Things have changed and I’m younger than that now.

Let me begin at the beginning

A year ago, I was in the process of doing research for my book, THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY, when all of a sudden, while boiling water for my afternoon tea, I fainted in my kitchen for no apparent reason, smartphone in hand, slow enough to call the paramedics who arrived quickly, picked me up sack of potatoes-like, took me in a special chair down my three flights of stairs to the waiting ambulance, laid me flat on a stretcher, which is the last event I remember, for transport to the nearby hospital, which I don’t remember at all for by then I had fainted completely.

As luck would have it, lucky me lives in Switzerland, a country where everything is nearby. Be it as it may, nearby wasn’t of much help because it would be four weeks anyway, before I re-membered anything again at all.

While in a state of faint, the 70% water and 30% fire-air-earth — that I’m made of, like you and everybody else — shut down. Or at least that’s how it felt. You don’t feel a thing. You also don’t use words to describe it. Only bystanders can see it and later tell you all about it.

After regaining the senses of my 70% water and 30% fire-air-earth, I re-membered only what I could not communicate to bystanders without blowing their minds and socks off which became quite clear rather quickly.

So I shut up and reduced myself to being told by a doctor, or was it maybe a nurse? that I had in the meantime survived the transport by ambulance to the nearby hospital, by ‘copter to the University hospital, the several hours of open-heart surgery, and the three weeks in a coma, to finally wake up in an intensive care unit that my sister tells me I’m mistaking for my apartment.

The mix of doctors and nurses also tell me that by the end of the week I’d take a taxi to spend my next 3 months at a nearby rehab clinic with fabulous views of the snowcapped Alps illuminated by the sun twice daily like Holly would.

None of it made any sense. They could as well have told me snowflakes keep falling on my head when Mother Frost beats her bedding.

Without further ado, let’s get back to me, the patient.

I remember more from quotes than from fairy tales. Call me Stupendous Quote Man if you must, but among the ones in plain view of my third eye is the following:

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein

Why am I telling you this?

It’s nothing, respectively it’s nothing but an attempt to let you partake in wisdom I wish I’d known earlier, namely that open heart surgery can be a curse and a blessing at the same time, because that wisdom might come in handy sooner or later.

The difference between miracle, blessing, and curse depends on how you look at it. And it’s not just about Albert Einstein of course. My handpicked quotes collection stands at 4,411 and counting, and includes the following.

That’s right, Polo Hofer, too, is right:

You know the end is near when the idiot killer shows up.”

Only people who’ve never been idiots in all their life shall escape, and I’d be a complete idiot to take myself out of it.

That’s right, Buddha is right, too:

The trouble is, you think you have time.”

No-one begins and ends life alive. If you think time is granted or that it’s all up to you, you’ll be in trouble before you know it.

Open heart surgery has granted me the wisdom to know that I’m mortal. Prior to that, I had the time to live till 2072. Now I know that without the doctors and nurses I wouldn’t have the time to watch my family, friends, and the world grow older and know much more than I ever will, nor would I have witnessed Jeff Beck in concert shortly before his death and listen to his music now, as we speak, without the pain of his absence while wondering who’s next.

Many of my inspirations are my generation, hence don’t have the trouble of thinking time’s on their side. And If my generation is mortal, what does that say about you and me?

That’s right, Yogi Berra is spot on too.

Predictions are hard to make, especially about the future.”

Yogi spent his life in sports — a pro baseball catcher who later took on the roles of manager and coach.

If future results are predictable, you can get run over by a bus anytime, but if that’s so, then you know you’re not talking sports anymore.

That’s right, Seneca is equally right.

Words become works.”

When you decide your words well, they will follow you like a shadow that never leaves, beyond the shadow of a doubt. And as if that weren’t enough, when you keep your word, many decisions are already made.

Finally, needless to say but I say it anyway, Marcel Marceau is right too.

Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words?”

‘Nough said.

Six quotes are more than what most word-users can absorb in one reading.

Because nothing happens until it is believed, you might want to read this post again, but that, my friend, is all up to you.

We don’t make choices, we make decisions.

Quotes don’t inspire because they have been written by word-users like you and me — made of 70% water and 30% fire-air-earth — but because they have been written by word-users who decide their words well, for everybody to see.

Are you trying to understand words and wanna cry?

By In Words

Understand words is not a walk in the park.

I should know for I stumbled upon words back in 2016.

7 years and 10,000 hours of writing about words later, I’m still only just getting started.

If you’re anything like me, you must not only discover but then also accept that there is a difference between Before Words and After Words.

Before Words vs After Words

Next, you work hard to understand the difference between word and words.

Word vs Words

If you’re anything like me one more time, the hardest part by a country mile is accepting that…

  • “Using words to talk of words is like using a pencil to draw a picture of itself, on itself. Impossible. Confusing. Frustrating.” – Patrick Rothfuss
  • “What a word means, a sentence cannot say.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein

And if that weren’t enough, you must also deal with wordusers telling you without fail that trying to understand words is hopeless and forlorn.

I did it anyway.

But that’s not all.

I also wrote a book — in English — that will help you understand words beyond the shadow of a doubt.

As a special preview, the book’s introduction reads like this:

INTRODUCTION

THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY, WHAT CAN BE DENIED ONLY BY CONFIRMING IT, investigates and answers what everybody wants to know.

  • How did it all begin?
  • What existed before humanity?
  • Why are we here and the wordless aren’t?

Origin can be denied only by confirming it, a word. The same applies to the beginning and to humanity.

Before words, words didn’t exist for self-evident reasons. After words, the only question on the table is when did words, the beginning, and humanity happen?

Have words been with us forever, or have they arrived only when mother Earth gave birth to herself 4.65 billion years ago? Or did the words appear 542 million years ago when the eyes appeared, or maybe 42 million years later, when the invention of the eyes was followed by the invention of the brain? Or did words happen perhaps only 300 million years ago when animals of the homo type first showed up? Could it have been on a Tuesday 6026 years ago when nothing happened?

To keep you from guessing, the first (spoken-only) words are estimated to have appeared between 9500 and 18000 years ago. When exactly doesn’t matter.

The 13750 years ago used in THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY (WHAT CAN BE DENIED ONLY BY CONFIRMING IT) is the average between the low and the high estimates.

13750 years ago, the age was stone, the Sahara green, Northern Europe under 1-mile-thick ice, and writing hadn’t been invented yet.

Please feel free to estimate the exact date yourself. After all, that’s what words are for.

Much water has gone under the bridge since, with much other stuff too, some good and some bad.

The wordless remain as wordless as ever, but the wordy have climbed to the top of the food chain second to none. The self-declared crown of evolution, ready for breakfast on Mars, and with our sense of humor we can look at what has changed — the glorious, the fantastic, the absurd, and the non-sensical — and laugh about it, not sure if that’s scary or funny or how it benefits us.

Only one thing is certain beyond the shadow of a doubt. Without our sense of humor, we’d all go insane. If we haven’t already.

Everybody knows that nothing good will ever come from fighting the old. It takes a fresh perspective that makes the old obsolete.

For this and other reasons as well, THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY (WHAT CAN BE DENIED ONLY BY CONFIRMING IT) invites you to look at words as an alien might.

As you read my book, new landscapes will unfold that everybody knows have been there all along.

But as you will notice, the unfolding is you.

Of course, my book can offend for other reasons as well.

But let’s begin in the beginning

I wanted to write a book that gives readers hope. I believe that’s why you are here, and if we begin with what we agree on, it’s easier to understand what THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY (WHAT CAN BE DENIED ONLY BY CONFIRMING IT) is about.

We probably haven’t had the pleasure to meet in person yet, so let me briefly introduce myself to you.

My name is Beat Schindler. That I’m passionate about the origin of humanity is new even to me.

In my younger years, I used to believe the stories told to me by storytellers typically stronger and taller than me.

I believed not only that the world had been created, but also that I’m part of a family, community, nation, people, humanity, and brotherhood of man. On top of that, I believed I was born human and, therefore, that I’m separate from nature.

I’m not saying I was convinced, but over time I got used to it.

When I was older, in 2016, it suddenly occurred to me that humanity could be a word.

Six years and many doubters later, it turns out that humanity is indeed what can be denied only by confirming it.

Now I’m driven by what I feel and no longer see the point in tarting it up.

I’m passionate about the origin of humanity as well as about the origin of words, because the two events are identical.

If it wasn’t for words, humanity wouldn’t exist.

I no longer believe anything is separate from nature. Everything is part of the origin, including us, the word-users.

I reside in a country where writing about the origin doesn’t get me silenced, imprisoned, or cost me my life.

Everybody wished that the governments all over the world loved their children, too, but everybody also knows the state the world is in.

Words

I hear you, what in the world have words got to do with the origin of humanity?

All kinds of things are being said about words, depending on who is saying them, and what to believe is a question of character and personal preference, to each their own.

There’s nothing new about it.

The story of words

In the beginning are the wordless — fire, air, earth, water, cells, plants, animals, eyes, and brains.

Who’s telling the story doesn’t make any difference.

13750 years ago, when words arrived, though they did nothing but divide the time on Earth into the Before Words and the After Words, they also changed the world more than any other event before or since.

I think it is no exaggeration to say words are the origin of humanity.

I’m not one to make new opinions or to invent anything. Everybody knows the word is a gift we’re meant to keep.

I think it is no exaggeration to say that the word is also the origin of you.

The story of you

For without words, you doesn’t exist, and the reason we’re here and the wordless aren’t, is because we have words and the wordless haven’t.

  • “Using words to talk of words is like using a pencil to draw a picture of itself, on itself.” – Patrick Rothfuss
  • “What a word means, a sentence cannot say.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein

I agree with the above quotes 100%.

Nevertheless, in THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY (WHAT CAN BE DENIED ONLY BY CONFIRMING IT) I will do just that, talk of words the best I can to let you discover for yourself what words are, do, and have, how we respond to them, and what that says about us.

To produce the numbers, tables, and graphs in this book, I’ve worked with the help of the internet. I trust they will let you see what happened in liberating new ways.

Understanding words is never a question of quantity. There are always those who understand and those who don’t.

But on one thing, my friend, I give you my word.

When you change the way you look at words, the world changes.

Limits and truths

The truths and limits of your world have got nothing to do with what’s out there.

The limits and truths of your world have got everything to do with your meaning of words.

No word can have your truth for you.

There’s no candle in the window.

It’s all up to you and artificial intelligence, whatever that’s supposed to be, doesn’t help.

You

What in the world have you, of all things, got to do with words?

Well, what you can feel, hear, smell, taste, touch, or see, or if you have a word for it, or if you have another word for it, it’s a word.

For this and other reasons as well, you is also part of THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY (WHAT CAN BE DENIED ONLY BY CONFIRMING IT) — what you are, do, can, and have, how you respond, and what that says about you.

Philosophy

I’m a storyteller, not a philosopher, so what has philosophy, of all things, got to do with the origin of humanity?

Why?

Above marked in red, Why? is the basis of not only storytelling, but also of every philosophical pursuit.

I do read of philosophers whenever the time is right, most recently when I enrolled at the local “Journées philosophiques” earlier this year.

Among the speakers was Markus Gabriel, “a philosopher” according to Wikipedia (the world’s most-read reference work), “the thinker of the hour”, according to DIE ZEIT (over 270,000 subscribers use the digital ZEIT), and chair of epistemology and of modern- and present-day philosophy at the University of Bonn, Germany. For context only, a few of Markus Gabriel’s quotes.

  • “It would be better if man would learn to understand himself as an animal again.” 
  • “We will never know everything.”
  • “Society will always have to come to terms with man’s susceptibility to error.”
  • “We need an ethics of not knowing.”

A favorite of mine is Ludwig Wittgenstein, “considered by some to be the greatest philosopher of the 20th century”, according to Wikipedia. For context only, below a few of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s quotes.

  • “All I know is what I have words for.”
  • “What a word means, a sentence cannot say.”
  • “Uttering a word is like striking a note on the keyboard of the imagination.”
  • “A new word is like a fresh seed sown on the ground of the discussion.”
  • “Call it a dream, it does not change anything.”
  • “What one cannot speak of, one must remain silent about.”
  • “Death is not an event in life.”
  • “If a question can be asked, then it can also be answered.” 
  • “Everything that can be thought and said at all, can be thought and said clearly.”   
  • “To say of two things that they are identical is nonsense. And to say of one thing that it is identical with itself is to say nothing.”
  • “I won’t say ‘See you tomorrow’ because that would be like predicting the future, and I’m pretty sure I can’t do that.”
  • “Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life.”

In THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY (WHAT CAN BE DENIED ONLY BY CONFIRMING IT), simply look for what is useful, ignore the rest, or reach out to say hello.

Systemic change requires sharing the information.

If the information in this introduction is useful to you and maybe to others, please feel free to share it lock, stock, and barrel.

PS.

You can also listen to the book’s introduction by clicking the play button below.

PPS.

You can purchase THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY (WHAT CAN BE DENIED ONLY BY CONFIRMING IT) from my publisher, Books on Demand, from Amazon worldwide, or from any local book stores (on stock or by order).