Words versus Pictures

I Love To Read

I love to read. Always have. The older I get, the more I savor the words. Where once I read for speed, I now peruse a few pages and think about what I have read. I’m content not reading for the volume, but focus on the page.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love to look at things and there are many places in life I want to go and experience what others talk about, but there is something special about the craft of taking words from a dictionary, matching them with a mental picture, and placing them into print for others to enjoy. Everywhere I go I enjoy taking pictures, yet I have found that these snapshots are not as graphic as what I have stored in my mind of the same place.

There is something magical about taking these images, parsing the pixels into words, and storing into your mind for later enjoyment.

I have never found a video to be more graphically accurate than the words of an author on a paper. Nor have I ever enjoyed the video more than the book. For the most part, my mind is extremely unique to paint the results of words read into something more personal. Other than experiencing a place in person, taking words from a page and painting my own experience is more real than someone else’s picture of the same place.

I have found some “Planet Photographers” on Instagram and I enjoy looking at the unique perspective of this world through the eyes of their lenses. Yet, one of them noted that they always spend time “editing” the picture before showing it off.

That’s right… They edit it.

In other words, what they show is not a true-to-life representation – they sharpen the colors, remove unnecessary distractions, and finalize a product they are proud of… What they end up sharing is graphically gorgeous, however, it is a product of their insight of reality, and their skill of manipulation. I can enjoy it, but I truly would much rather see it naturally and then imagine it pixeled the way I think it should be.

On the other hand, there are some books that cannot be easily converted into a picture presentation. During school, I found more distractions with “video” presentations of a subject – the distractions of the background, facial features, or even costumes, are huge. Back then, it was a reel-to-reel projector and the clacking sounds of the equipment was an easy distraction. I remember one video that did not hold my interest. I was constantly watching others as they watched the screen to see how they were reacting. Of course, as luck would have it, I found many that were not as “in to” the subject on the screen.

So… In this situation, simply give me the audio to enjoy as I continue to live my life. That way I can be busy doing other important things – like spending some tractor time out back.

I read a book the other day, “A River Runs Through It”. It is probably one of the prettiest painted word stories I have read in a long time. It is based on the author’s life and is a collection of writings primarily intended for his children. The author has passed on but did not begin writing until he was in his late 60’s, long after a career of teaching and living. As I read through the pages (digitally, of course) I am struck by well-crafted sentences that divert my attention from the book and down a rabbit trail of thought. I can spend some quality minutes thinking about what I have read.

This has become my “fun” time. A book like this one will take me weeks to get through, a couple of pages at a time. It is replete with examples of phrases that give me pause to think it through before continuing on.

“All there is to thinking,” he said, “is seeing something noticeable which makes you see something you weren’t noticing which makes you see something that isn’t even visible.”

Maclean, Norman (2009-08-14). A River Runs Through It and Other Stories,
Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition (Kindle Locations 1695-1696). University of Chicago Press. Kindle Edition.

“All there is to thinking…” This sentence speaks volumes to me because I have often wondered about the mind and how thoughts find a beginning and where they skip across portions of gray matter, picking up little thoughts along the way to add or dismiss. The skimming of ideas come at a rapid pace, and it is almost impossible to consider all the things you think about less you get bogged down in one place. It is almost like dreaming. You awake, and with a fleeting memory, you grasp at the cobwebs attempting to uncover the thoughts of your sleeping.

The mind is simply an amazing collection of information, and thinking through stored information adds depth to one’s ability to communicate!

It makes me wonder about all the garbage we allow to fill our mind, and how it shades every action of our lives. From every source imaginable, we load up our senses with words, sounds, and images. We clog our memory cells with garbage that cannot easily be removed. I’m as guilty of this as anyone else. There are some stories that thrill the mind that crosses many genres. A good spy novel from the cold war is still a blast to read!

Here’s my thought today. Once something enters our mind, there is really no way to remove it short of destructive means. Once an image is stuck in our minds, or a word has entered our ears, it is easy to relive these images and words into everyday conversation. How do we wipe garbage from our minds? It’s a difficult task, perhaps impossible.

The Apostle Paul gives us a hint of possibility:

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV)

This action of “forgetting” is only found in the New Testament. The Old Testament admonishes you to forget the past, or not, and do not forget the law, but there is not true instruction on how to forget.

In the New Testament, the word is only used eight times in various forms – forget, forgotten, forgetting. Paul uses it in an action setting of describing an ongoing process, and perhaps this is the most difficult thing of all – the continual forgetting of the things behind.

Of all the things we have experienced, seen, or read, there is much we wish we could undo. It is not as simple as running a magnet across a hard drive and scrambling all the magnetic particles that represent data. No, it is an ongoing process of saying “No” to the thought as it swims to the surface, and forcing ourselves to not linger on them – pushing them back.

This Greek word of “forgetting” means “to lose out of mind.” Tell that thought to get lost! When that image shows up in your mind, or even before your eyes… Tell it to get lost. Do not linger on it. Turn and look another direction.

There was a time I was struggling with sleeping. I would awake in a panic of some dastardly dream and could not get rid of the images or thoughts. I finally started thinking about white noise and how it drowns out all the noise you do not want to hear. As an example, I would take a corner of my memory and start filling it with white noise as with an eraser.  I would fill my entire mind with white noise – drowning out the images so I could go back to sleep. It works even today!

Drowning out the negative images with something more appropriate, even white noise, may help us lose the memory totally.

Yet, there are times when a picture can paint a thousand words. Sometimes we struggle with our words and painting an accurate picture. Simply consider those instructions given with furniture and toys that need to be assembled at home. Wow! Sometimes the words make no sense and only a picture can point the way!

Words versus Pictures – I suspect there are right times and places for each of them… But for myself, give me the words, and let my mind paint the picture of the story. Any time.