Symbols of Knowledge

Thursday, February 18, 2010



Roland Gelatt, in a review of Caroline Pratt’s book I Learn from Children, describes the phenomenon of ‘How adults stop building their vocabularies’ as follows:

All normal human beings are born with a powerful urge to learn. Almost all of them lose this urge, even before they have reached maturity. It is only the few…who are so constituted that lack of learning becomes a nuisance. This is perhaps the most insidious of human tragedies.

I was struck by the tragedy described by Roland Gelatt, and the only silver line bordering the dark cloud was my constant uneasiness about this affliction. My friends used to console me when I blundered with my vocabulary in English Language, saying that probably it was because of my efficacy with more than one language, namely Hindi, Urdu and English, that I sometimes tend to mumble jumble my words. I had the sense to quietly disagree with that diagnosis of my problem.


Actually, I too tried to fit in an interesting theory explaining my tendency to use a very limited range of vocabulary while trying to articulate my experiences, both external and internal. My theory was that I tend to be simple and frugal with words because I have started journeying inwards from the world of words to that of silence – shabd se nihshabd ki disha mein! I thought that the more profound our experience is, the simpler our expression of it becomes. But, I knew deep within that I was trying to shy away from some important learning.


Finally, I have arrived at the answer to my question in the book ‘Word Power Made Easy’ by Norman Lewis. It says – Words are the symbols of knowledge, the keys to accurate thinking. Is it any wonder then that the most successful and intelligent people in the world have the biggest vocabularies? It was not their large vocabularies that made these people successful and intelligent, but their knowledge. Knowledge, however, is gained largely through words. In the process of increasing their knowledge, these successful people increased their vocabularies.