Today I decided to break off from the series on art theory and philosophy for a message I feel my younger self would have needed to hear, but never really did.

We live in a time of ridiculous amounts of contracts, fine print and lawyer language that most of us mere mortals can’t even fathom to understand. But only a few 100 years ago, it was very different.

And no, I will not be glorifying the laws of the dark ages, nor is this some anti-lawyer blunder on how we should all live in vegan hammock-knitting societies and reinstate barter as the only viable option. But one thing was very different back then than it is today. And we sure could use more of it.

It was just a word one would make; a collection of sounds from one person to another, that was powerful enough to change people and make them feel at ease and communicate trust and partnership. 

And it wasn’t one particular word or sentence that had this power of change — it was more or less unimportant which words were used. You can in fact hear the same (or similar, dialects have changed) words being uttered today, but their meanings have changed profoundly.

“I promise” means little to a great many. “I will” never really seems to do anything. But they both sure sound nice.

A person’s word should be held sacred; like Marduk, the Mesopotamian god whose words were magical and had the power to alter reality itself, our words have the same powers.

To say: “I will.” and mean it is to create an unbreakable bond between two people that no signed piece of deadwood could ever have. And I am not diminishing contracts and the law in any way; I am grateful to live in a society guided by laws, even if they aren’t always abided by its people.

But in a society of anonymity and long-range connections verging almost on the impersonal at times, the greatest power we have is credibility and respect. Folks living between a rock and a hard place know this; those of us, who have already build something know this; the CEO of any big company knows this. We all know this. 

But we should act on it as if it was the only rule that really mattered.