We need to get beyond words if we are to understand things more fully. Words are not the things they represent. It is easy to understand this intellectually, but we tend to focus on the words anyhow when we discuss things, and so often don’t see clearly the things that they point at. This limits our thinking and our ability to learn new things.

For example, suppose a man says free trade is bad for poor countries, and I immediately disagree, because what I know as “free trade” helps poor countries. I am ready and able to argue. The problem is, I have little to learn as long as I argue, especially if I am only focusing on proving he has “put his words together wrong,” that his logic is flawed.

Now some of you reading this are thinking, “but if his logic is wrong those flaws should be pointed out.” You might think that there is little to learn from a flawed argument anyhow, and that we have some “duty” to argue for a more “correct” understanding. You even feel that this is how the truth is actually arrived at. Of course, most arguments arrive at nothing but a defending of beliefs that don’t get changed on either side.

What if instead, I remember that words are not like mathematical symbols, and therefore logic does not “prove” things nearly as well as many people think. Words are understood many different ways, but they do point at something in reality. So what if I listen to see what his words are pointing at, and look to see if there is something to learn there?

For example, I might learn that low-priced government subsidized cotton from one country is destroying the livelihoods of cotton growers in other countries. This is clearly harmful, and unfortunately it is referred to as “free trade,” so it’s easy to see the merits of his argument now. What the world is calling free trade is bad for the poor of those countries in this case.

Of course I can explain that this isn’t actually free trade, although that may just start another argument about definitions. In any case, I can now agree that he is correct in the problem he’s pointing out. We can trade ideas on how this might be addressed.

In the end we may both learn something, because we’ve gotten beyond the words and looked at what we meant by them. The next time you feel an argument about to start, choose to ask the other person what he or she means instead. You may or may not learn anything new, but what can you learn by hearing your own opinions one more time? Get beyond words and you may find that what others are seeing is sometimes worth looking at.

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