Words, Symbols, etc.

 "Man lives in a world of ideas. Any phenomenon is so complex that he cannot possibly grasp the whole of it. He abstracts certain characteristics of a given phenomenon as an idea, then represents that idea as a symbol, be it a word or a mathematical sign. Human reaction is almost entirely reaction to symbols, and only negligibly to phenomena. As a matter of fact, it can be demonstrated that the human mind can think only in terms of symbols.

"When we think, we let symbols operate on other symbols in certain, set fashions—rules of logic, or rules of mathematics. If the symbols have been abstracted so that they are structurally similar to the phenomena they stand for, and if the symbol operations are similar in structure and order to the operations of phenomena in the real world, we think sanely. If our logic-mathematics, or our word-symbols, have been poorly chosen, we do not think sanely." - Robert Heinlein 1940 short story “Blowups Happen”

...

We carry about with us the burden of what thousands of people have said and the memories of all our misfortunes. To abandon all that totally is to be alone, and the mind that is alone is not only innocent but young. Not to know is the beginning of wisdom.

The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.

The wall is the idea; the reality, the truth, is on the other side.

The mind must be empty in order to see clearly.

--Jiddu Krishnamurti

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Alfred North Whitehead calls the dominance of symbols "The fallacy of misplaced concreteness" and compares it to going to a restaurant and devouring the paper menu. The Bible calls this "idolatry," and commands devotion to the geniune article, not a symbol for it.

Of course, in economic terms, it’s “Midas Disease”–the belief that more stocks, bonds and cash is wealth, not the things they can buy. How much good would they do if we burn up the planet to get more of those symbols of wealth?