The Real Thing

We are living in an age of image.

A cheerful “how are you?”

with no interest in the answer.

A snapshot with a famous bridge behind us,

but no memory of the breeze that day.

We mistake the image for the thing.

And often we mistake the word for the thing as well.

We name things so quickly,

we forget to know them.

But the letters t-r-e-e are not the tree.

The word is not bark or roots.

It’s not shade or sap or dry leaves falling.

Once we learn the word,

we often stop noticing the thing itself.

We stop experiencing it.

We call it by name, note its appearance — and move on.

I wonder if we do something similar with each other, with ourselves, and in branding.

We absorb and use current language —

elevated. bespoke. human.

But what do those words actually mean?

Are they lived, or merely familiar?

It's possible to become so fluent in the language of authenticity that we stop noticing whether anything authentic is present.

The image is not the thing.

The word is not the thing.

Somewhere beneath the descriptions, the labels, and the appearances, life is still waiting to be experienced directly. ✦

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