A Dangerous Word

There is a dangerous word. Actually there are lots of dangerous words. Language has the capacity to sneak up on you, limit your thinking, steer you subtly in directions you don't notice. We can only think about what we can name. How we name things is fraught with assumptions. The Tao that can be spoken is not the true Tao.

Nevertheless, there is a dangerous word, that dismissive, nasty word: MERELY.

You have heard it said: This is MERELY that. Life is MERELY the random play of molecules. The Mind is MERELY a subjective experience of the brain. Morality is MERELY evolutionary imperative. And on, and on.

Here, MERELY is taken to mean 'only this and no more', 'no need to look any further, folks, it's all explained'. MERELY is a tyrant of a word. It says that my view is the only view, all other thoughts are without merit. MERELY is a devaluing word. It says 'this is worth little, don't look here'.

Like all tyrants, MERELY wants to rewrite history and the present. Like all tyrants, MERELY needs to be overthrown.

An apple tree is MERELY a seed. An apple is MERELY a combination of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen just so.

MERELY is a dangerous word