Testing times

A ship is built to sail on waters, not merely for display in a harbour. Similarly, a general is expected to lead his troops in the theatre of war. He can be tested only on the battlefield. A general is barely tested in peace time.

The world of words

Seeing a stranger, we are not imbued with any power to guess his name. We have to be introduced to get his name. Similarly, for example, our seeing a tree does not necessarily give us the word ‘tree’. Tree is a thing which is so named. Why do we name things? For the sake of communication, of course. If I have met Narayanan and want to tell my friend so, I need to name him to my friend. Otherwise both of us have to be sufficiently patient for me to describe Narayanan for my friend to recognize whom I am talking about. This process is too cumbersome for it to be repeated every time I want to talk about Narayanan to different people. Moreover, Narayanan may mean different things to different people. Therefore I would have to describe him to each differently for him to be properly recognized. Why such labour in communication when I can describe him with a single word. Therefore we see why words are required. For communication – and not just with others, but with ourselves too. Otherwise we are bound to confuse ourselves!