Back in Word Prison

How to spot the invisible walls behind "You can't do that."

Today I found myself wondering if I was a photographer. Or a filmmaker? Something else? I chewed on the conundrum a bit, then I realized I had fallen into that old dungeon again. Word prison.

Birds circling in an invisible box

The first time you identify a hole where a word should be you dismiss it as a fluke. But hit these voids enough times and eventually you realize there are holes everywhere. The landscape of language is not a comprehensive map, it’s barely a loose net of definitions that humans are obliviously lost within. That thick Oxford dictionary seemed like it was cataloging everything. In reality it just catalogues the limits of our minds, the things we can say, the thoughts we can think, and the objects we can make.

When you are young it is hard, perhaps impossible, to think without words. They might not fully realize what they are doing, but when youth invent their own slang, it is because they have entered the stage of development when they see language as malleable for the first time. They are stepping out of word prisons and experiencing the fresh air of expanded consciousness. Unfortunately, most people grow out of this phase, step back into their cells, and lose their keys.

Examples of word prisons? Political parties, professional titles, artistic styles, musical genres, organized religion — anywhere that words slice our minds into controllable chunks, you will find word-thinkers primed to point out when you’ve stepped outside the orthodoxy of language. But let’s stick to creative word prisons, the things preventing you from making something original. Can this be fixed?

A sure sign that you’ve found a boundary of word prison is when you hear “you can’t do that.” Sometimes it is a voice in our head that utters these words but often it is our co-workers, friends, and family.

“You can’t” is different than “You shouldn’t.” The difference is that “shouldn’t” has reasons behind it. “Can’t” might be true, but it’s often uttered by people who haven’t actually pushed the limits of what’s possible, no, they are trusting in the meaning of their word prisons.

“You shouldn’t” can be helpful. But “can’t?” This infuriates creative people because we are the most likely people to be aware of, and question our word prisons. We recognize when the only reasons behind the “No” are only the definitions of words. And it makes our blood boil. In these situations you aren’t brushing against real constraints, you are being blocked by words that have become permanent structures in the collective human mind. It is easier for people to block you than to change their definitions or to make mental shelf space for something completely new. But all you get is “no.”

Here’s the secret that will help you destroy word prisons. Just as the definitions of words are invisible chains to the people held in their prisons, the limits to what you can do are also invisible. There is absolutely no reason you can’t break the rules. Once you see the walls of the prison you can simply walk outside. There are no locks holding these bars closed. There doesn’t have to be a word for your endeavor before you can begin it. That doesn’t mean you will succeed, but the asking permission part? No. You don’t need permission. Step outside the prison and make something the naysayers can’t possibly imagine or replicate.

Stay creative. Your friend,
Ade