CLARITY OF EXPRESSION

CLARITY OF EXPRESSION Objective Thinking Y OU need to be clear in your expression both written and spoken. The person who hears or reads what you have written should clearly understand and not be confused. Nature has bestowed material things in separate shapes and forms. In the natural or physical sciences, material or physical objects are automatically separated and sorted out. It is different in the case of humanities since they deal with concepts and ideas which need sorting. Humanities include religion, spirituality and the social sciences. Categorization and distinctions between ideas require reflection and deep thought. The physical sciences demand clarity and precision. In humanities, people can look at the same human-related issue in different ways, and this can lead to much confusion. This is true in the case of both secular and religious issues. In the physical sciences, things are sorted out, separated and delineated by nature itself, while in the humanities, people with different opinions and world views see things in very different and often contradictory, ways. Such easy and automatic categorization does not happen. Milk contains a huge amount of bacteria which are not visible to the naked eye. They can be seen if you examine just a drop of milk under a microscope. Similarly, our galaxy, the Milky Way, appears to our naked eye as a white stream. But if you view it through a telescope, you will notice that it consists of a vast number of stars, which, because of their enormous distance from us, appear like one large white stream. In contrast to material objects—like the bacteria in milk and the stars in the Milky Way—ideas do not exist separately. They exist in our minds mixed up along with other ideas. Our minds are a maze of different ideas that are often jumbled up. So, when you speak or write on any subject, you should be capable of sorting out the different ideas that coexist in your mind and clearly presenting the particular idea that you wish to convey. This does not happen naturally. You have to do it yourself, using the power of analysis. If you lack this power, your words will only confuse people, for want of clarity. In the humanities, categorization and distinctions between ideas require reflection and deep thought.