beLIEve
I saw this on the back of a tee shirt once.
The “be ve” were in green, so that under the black light I could barely make them out…
but theLIE was white, and it shone in my eyes with all the brilliance of the sun.
Right smack dab in the middle of the word believe is a great big fat LIE!
This stupid clubber’s shirt had triggered an epiphany.
I mean, did the crafters of the English language intend this subversive little trick
or is it mere coincidence? Why have I never heard anyone expound on this stunning revelation?
I mean come on, the very word that speaks of faith and acceptance of something that can only be
guessed, the star that every religion revolves around, the handmaiden of truth…
and the very heart of this word is a LIE!
Perhaps everyone knows this, perhaps they taught it in kindy-garden on the day I was absent, it is
quite possible that most people figured it out the same day that they realized that the olden days did
not occur in black-n-white, or that chocolate milk does not come from brown cows. But for me, it is a
new concept that would have been quite a blow to any faith I had in ordered religion
(had I any).
Fortunately, I have for quite some time now, adopted the beLIEf that all words are lies, for they are a
map to only one facet of reality, and though they are powerful, they are false. Language can only serve
to wrap words around the truth, but truth itself is translanguistic, and can only be felt, or known, not
spoken or written. I speak of course of the BIG TRUTHS and not the “I went to the store” or
“thefez can eat glass and smile” kind of truths.
Be that as it may, the word beLIEve is a very potent word. It causes people to war with one another,
handle venomous snakes, refrain from eating, weep and shout with profound sorrow and ecstatic joy.
This LIE is hidden so well, that it took a tee shirt manufacturer to point it out to me…