Clarity Doesn’t Come Before Action

It comes from action

Whenever I see a quote about writing and clarity, I wonder how people thought 100,000 years ago.

There was no writing. Does that mean their thinking was off? Was it unclear?

What about the microcosms? Do bacteria and archaea think less clearly because they can’t write?

Writing was initially separate symbols strung together to develop contextual meaning.

Those who can’t think using words still use images or symbols. Writing brings it together into coherence.

In this sense, writing sparks clarity. Bringing the symbols to light is construction at work, converting abstraction into reality. In this sense, clarity does come from action.

In The Brutalist, László Tóth asks:

Is there a better description of a cube than that of its construction?

Construction is the channel through which abstract concepts transit and crystallize into reality. Bacteria also bring abstractions into reality through genetic mutations to test them empirically. They construct.

Their stakes are much higher because their construction could be the difference between life and death. It can’t get any clearer than that.

Writing, in this way, is construction. Humans have been freed from constructing merely through genetic mutations, and have transferred this burden to words and symbols, which can die in our stead.

Thus, I ask:

Is there a better description of an idea than that of its construction?