Love has been called the greatest power on earth. There are even some that call love the greatest power in the universe. If love is in fact the greatest anything, we do need to question whether or not we diminish love by simplifying it into a formula. We also need to question whether or not we are ourselves are diminished by that same process.
The Power of Words
Based on Emoto’s findings, Wiebe was prompted to investigate the power of words.
At first, his research was yielding very little. He often heard spiritual and personal development speakers and authors discuss this concept, but it was often based on experiential, scriptural or anecdotal evidence – evidence that may very well be valid, but would be difficult to validate or invalidate.
But this year he decided to re-read a book by Dr. Robert Anthony. He is one of his favorite authors in the personal development field. Although mostly unintended and synchronistic, he ended up finding a few quotes that provided him with some interesting insights into the power of words.
Robert Anthony earned a PhD in behavioral psychology from Pacific Western University and has worked as a psychotherapist, neuro-linguistic programming practitioner, master hypnotist and personal performance trainer.
He has authored over 15 books, and some of his most known works include The Ultimate Secrets of Total Self-Confidence and Beyond Positive Thinking.
This quote and all that follow are from his 1979 self-help book, The Ultimate Secrets of Total Self-Confidence.
…successful experiments involve photographs taken of ordinary drinking water while it is being prayed over and blessed. Preliminary photographs of the water showed very thin vibrations but as the same water was being sanctified, it registered significantly increased radiation indicating that the power of positive thought can be transferred to an object. – Dr. Robert Anthony
Although it may sound like Dr. Anthony is indeed referring to Emoto’s studies, that isn’t possible since his book was released in 1979, and Emoto didn’t begin his work on water until the mid-90s.
The 3 Powers of Words
The idea that words possess power is a fascinating one.
We took a look at the magical effect of words last time, and we’re going to be delving deeper into the subject today.
I found an article called The Magical Power In Your Words, so I thought we could explore it together.
The thesis is stated well in the introduction:
The words you use have magic and power within them! They are impulses of magnetic energy, which, once released, set in motion a frequency that attracts and broadcasts to the world.
The article goes on to explain how words actualize ideas, build nations and worlds, as well as the healing power that they possess. These are deep concepts worthy of their own exploration. For now, a summary will have to suffice.
The idea that words can be used to convey ideas is pretty commonsense.
But what about words building nations?
In this article, they make mention of the Declaration of Independence. It’s not hard to see how the words in this document have served as guiding principles for a nation.
And words building worlds?
The reference they make in this article is to the Bible, specifically The Gospel of John.
The exact meaning of the text is hard to discern, but it is interesting to consider that words can build entire worlds.
The healing power of words?
We’ve actually taken a look at this before.
The article goes into quite a bit of depth on this topic, referencing several personal anecdotes – it’s definitely worth a read.
What do you think?
Do words really possess this much power, or do we tend to make too much of the things we say?
Can words indeed build nations and even entire worlds?
Do Words Have the Power to Change Our Lives?
I felt like I ran into a little bit of a dead end with my previous exploration of person-first language.
Eventually, I was led to a bit of a different kind of search: how do words change your life.
A subtle difference, and yet an important one, even if less scientific.
This search led me to an article titled Words Have the Power to Change Our Lives.
Here are some of the more noteworthy statements from this article:
- Google is a company with a focus on classifying and organizing words (though they say their focus is information).
- A word like “cancer” can immediately change your life.
- Words have monetary value behind them. Consider terms and phrases like “free shipping”, or “buy with one click”.
- When marketers create content online, they often do keyword searches and “search engine optimize” their content pieces for maximum exposure.
- Words have powerful meaning in religion, and wars have been waged over them.