Of my assertions,
9 out of 10 are metaphorical;
7 in 10 are from existing writings.

Words flow on every day clarified by
the heavenly element
in our nature.

The 9 assertions in 10 which are metaphorical
are borrowed from external sources
to expound my arguments. It is said,
“A father does not act as the matchmaker
for his own son.”
This means that it is better
if the son is praised by another
than his father.

That I resort to such metaphorical language
is not my fault but the fault of men
who would not otherwise understand me.

[People] accept views
which agree with their own
and reject those which do not.
They take to be right
that which agrees
with their own views
and wrong that which does not.

Words flow on daily as from a cup and find harmony with the heavenly element in our nature to reach an unlimited realm throughout our life. When there are no words, there is agreement. Agreement is not determined by words; words do not coincide with agreement. Hence it is said, “Let there be no words.”

Zhuangzi trans.  Hyun Hochsmann and Yang Guorong, Book 27 Metaphorical Language

There are, indeed, things that cannot be put into words. They make
themselves manifest. They are what is mystical.

Tractatus Logico-philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein, vs 6.522

Once in a while I think I have fallen into a deep bowl of salad, word-salad, a bowl with steeply inclined sides, – and I cannot climb out… That’s a metaphor. Politics is worst of all. Political discourse becomes a tangled bramble of words shaped more and more into an abatis*, – as election day approaches.     

Inflation. Inflation is a insidious tax imposed upon the general public, by insatiable borrowing. The money supply balloons and thereby every dollar is worth less. The cost of everything goes up… Word inflation, when words proliferate, a fire-hose of media content, image and word produce such confusion, such dissonance – as to become as weightless and worthless as confetti. 

The treatment: say NO to borrowing, to adding more words when you have nothing additional of substance to offer. 

Zhuangzi notes that communication depends upon borrowing from authority sources, predecessors widely credited with respect such as – Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Immanuel Kant to name a few. We rummage the past looking for a useful quotation, an apt metaphor because we always cling to what is familiar/agreeable. We are loath to crack open our otherwise closed mind without being nudged by a word of authority, say from Jesus, etc., etc..

Kind words of advice from a taoist master: resist temptation to intensify the analysis and parsing of language, in order to score points, or to defend our ‘precious’ views. Instead, allow yourself to “just be.” 

Wittgenstein 2,500 years later echoes a similar view. Things that manifest without need of words, are mystical, of everything else they are the most precious. 

*Abatis [noun] is a means of defense formed by felled trees, or sometimes by bent trees, the ends of whose branches are sharpened and directed outwards, or against the enemy, and more recently fortified with barbed wire. 

The tune is old, a 1965 release. A lyric as up-to-date as today’s news.