The Vanity of Words

Original Post: September 12, 2025

Many self-satisfied intellectuals speak in aphorisms as though a single clever phrase could alter the world. As if words, detached from embodied resolve and earnest action, might suffice.

The apparent irony doesn’t escape me. I say this not in contempt, nor to raise myself above them. Yet neither do I strive to be counted among their ranks, though I am not immune to the same delusions of grandeur that animate such voices. With humility I acknowledge that they and I belong to the same order of narcissists. I too remain tempted by the vanity of seeking stature in acts meant for true altruists.

Still, there is a threshold which may be crossed which pushes one past mere words. It is the recognition that words, even when formed from a place of conviction, are insufficient without deeds accompanying them.

Those who are experts at speaking about a thing are precisely that: skilled at speaking. They are not necessarily experts in the thing itself, especially when they lack practical engagement with the subject.

Deeds, by contrast, animate the heart in involuntary ways, as though the body itself heightens its sensitivity with each selfless act.
Such acts are marked by charity set foremost, where the good of another holds primacy in the heart.

The body indeed keeps the score.

Truth cannot be severed from the life of its bearer. Only when embodied does it become real.

Love. Be confident. Create. Grow.
@ CyberArtTime 2025