Linguistic Abstractions
Friends!
For all of you that love independence, I want to say Happy 4th of July. For those that don't. Well....call me!
The last few weeks were pretty intense topics with lots to ponder so I promise to be a bit shorter but perhaps not less intense!
As readers of this series probably have figured out by now I love words. The right words. That's why I have written about poetry and reading and often use quotes that inspire me.
Most humans are in pursuit of finding the connection between their true being and their place in the world. We are all longing for a sense of belonging. Some are lucky to find it early. Some never find it. But I believe true JOY and happiness happens at that beautiful intersection between who we are, why we are, and what we do. Something like this.
Finding the answers to these questions is a lifelong pursuit. And it keeps changing because we keep changing. Therefore it's an organic, curvilinear, and possibly asymptotic endeavor. We take two steps forward and sometimes more than 2 steps back. But no pain. No gain. Finding our core being requires commitment and perseverance, curiosity, honesty, humility, great partners and friends, some luck, and most of all resilience and patience.
Art can sometimes help communicate this more mystic realm of life. We can find our truest being in front of an incredible painting in a breathtaking museum. Or in the midst of a beautiful piece of music. Or just entering a building that just feels "right" (which is why Goethe often reminded us that architecture is "frozen music"). We can also lose ourselves in the majestic presence of a mountain, a river, the sea, or a forest. Nature has an awesome ability to connect us to our innermost being. Or sometimes, surprisingly, you can feel the most alive when all is completely quiet and it is just you and your calm breathing (through your nose!).
And then there are words. Don't you love it when you read a sentence that captures the essence of something you know is true but that somehow you couldn't find the words for? It's such a gift.
My friend Dov reminded me of the great Wittgenstein quote which so perfectly captures the power of language: "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world"
I recently listened to a podcast where Tim Ferriss interviewed Chip Wilson. Chip founded Lulu Lemon among other significant achievements. I found the interview to be inspiring on many levels and I highly recommend listening to it. Particularly if you are interested in entrepreneurialism, culture shaping, and leadership. But relative to words he kept referencing the notion of "linguistic abstractions". This could mean different things depending on which field of study you come from.
But what I took from Chip was that he starts with the books that he has found most important to his worldview. Then he asks his core team to "extract" the most significant and relevant few words from those books. With that as a basis, they then curate a set of words that form the basis of their values and culture. In fact, for many years, those words were printed on the Lulu Lemon bags. They referred to them as "the code". There are still words on Lulu bags but here is the full version. So much wisdom there (if you can read that on your phone...if not link below).
The process of distilling your essence by first picking the most significant books in your life, THEN picking out the most relevant and capturing statements of words from those books sounds like smart design to me. It's like making a consommé of life! By process of reduction, you get to the very essence of who you are! It's like we are all Michelangelos and we start with a big big rock of marble and through life, we keep chipping away until we are left with our real self.
When I was a young man I was challenged by my mentor, coach, and friend Kjell Enhager to do something very similar. To write down the essence of who I wanted to become. What I wanted to stand for. It was as important of a task as it was intimidating. I kept reading the big books. I kept searching for clues. Finally, I found something written that so much captured what I felt so perfectly described what my soul was crying out to be that I asked Kjell if I had to "invent" the words or if I could simply repurpose them. Thankfully he accepted the latter.
While I have a long way to go before I come even close to living up to this linguistic abstraction of "success" by Ralph Waldo Emerson it still, over 25 years later inspires me every day. And I hope it inspires you. To paraphrase another mentor, Benjamin Zander; "It might not be an expectation we can live up to but certainly it is a possibility we can live in to".
