Plato, Pipes, and Purpose
On the difference between words and actions
If you don’t like to read much, here’s the short version:
We’re launching a new campaign at Rule No. 1 to highlight the importance of actually living your purpose and values. We’ll shine a light on the distinction between taking real action and writing wonderful words which then show up in beautiful posters and videos. The campaign will come to life primarily in our LinkedIn posts so please make sure to check us out there. You can check out our Rule No. 1 page and also the pages of our team members: Adam Schorr, Ayelet Zolty, John Wallis, Jonathan Jeter, and Josette Schorr. We hope you’ll enjoy our humorous take on this serious topic. And if you’re curious about what Plato and pipes have to do with purpose and this campaign, then I’m afraid you actually have to read the article below…
Words matter. Or so we’re told anyway. Usually with words.
Words have ignited love affairs. And wars. They’ve given voice to our noblest aspirations and our basest instincts. Through words we have imagined our greatest hopes and described our deepest fears. Words give us power to create joy and inflict pain.
Words matter.
But those of us who love words — who obsess over them; who enjoy consuming them; who take pride in crafting and sharing them — we can sometimes fetishize words. We forget that while some words matter simply because they conjure a thought or a feeling, others matter only because they inspire action.
Words matter.
Sometimes, as ends. But often, only as means.
This distinction seems small. It isn’t. Because when we assert that “words matter” without understanding what that means, we sow confusion in ourselves and others. Not to mention the fact that saying “words matter” and not understanding the meaning of those words is pretty ridiculous.
Too often, we give ourselves credit for having accomplished something when all we’ve done is uttered words. Conversely, too often we assign blame to others for having caused damage when all they’ve done is uttered words.
Such is human nature.
We value and pursue substance
We strive for accomplishment; we want to have an impact on the world; we want our lives to matter.
And we value and pursue symbolism
We want to understand and impart meaning; we care not only about what has been said but how it felt and the deeper meaning it conveyed; we don’t just trade facts, we share stories; we create art.
Leading thinkers, writers, and artists have long explored this distinction between symbol and substance.
Let’s start with Plato. (Note: We’re taking some poetic license with his philosophy.)
In his famous Theory of Forms, Plato argued that the objects and qualities we perceive as real in the physical world are merely the shadow of an idea. For example, let’s consider chairs. To Plato, the real chair is actually a form, a concept, an idea. Every actual physical chair we see, imperfectly represents the form — the idea of “chair”. Same for qualities. We may experience love, but that love — no matter how real it feels to us — is an imperfect representation of real love which is the form, the concept, the idea of “love”.
To Plato, it is the symbol that is trusted as real and true, whereas substance is to be regarded with suspicion.
This may sound crazy to people who believe that what comes to them through their senses — what they can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste — is as real as anything could be. But hold on. Do our senses never lie? One of the wisest men of all time, Obi-Wan Kenobi said to Luke Skywalker “your eyes can deceive you, don’t trust them”.
Doesn’t your experience bear this out? How many times have you been absolutely certain you saw something or heard something while the other people with you were equally certain they didn’t see it or hear it? How many times have you had a crystal-clear memory of something only to realize later it didn’t happen?
Plato might have been on to something. Our senses cannot always be trusted; let alone our memory of what our senses experienced. Modern cognitive psychology shares Plato’s view. (Kind of. We’re also taking poetic license with decades of psychological research.)
Consider what happens when you see a chair. How do you come to recognize the object as a chair? Well, to drastically oversimplify, you have a mental representation of “chair” in your mind. That representation has a definition or, at least, a set of attributes. For example, our mental representation of “chair” has a surface on which to sit and legs that support the seat.
Some chairs are more “chair-ey” than others.
If I asked you to imagine and then draw a chair, you are likely to draw something with 4 legs, a seat that is roughly parallel to the ground, and a back — designed to fit an average-sized human. Something like this:
You are less likely to imagine and draw something like these:
The reason you are less likely to draw these is that while they do function as chairs, they do not match up well with our mental image of what a chair is. Neither of them have four legs and the bottom one also lacks a back or a “normal” way of situating your legs.
To Plato and cognitive psychologists, there is some sense in which the concept of a chair is more real than an actual physical chair that you can see and touch.
There is, of course, an opposing school of thought — one that places more value on substance than on symbol. In this view, actions are prized while words are viewed with suspicion.
Ben Franklin said “Well done is better than well said.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson said “Don’t say things. What you are stands over you the while and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.”
Perhaps the most famous example of this way of thinking is a painting by René Magritte:
Translation: “This is not a pipe”.
You see what he did there? The image is of a pipe, but the words say that it isn’t what you think it is, what you clearly see as plain as day.
Magritte titled this painting “The Treachery of Images” to underscore the point that one should not confuse the symbol for the substance. As he said…
“The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it’s just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture “This is a pipe”, I’d have been lying!”
It looks like a pipe. But it says it’s not a pipe. Do I trust the image? Do I trust the words? Do I trust what I knew before looking at the painting? Hmmmm. Precisely. Now put that in your pipe and smoke it!
This painting highlights the distinction between substance and symbol in a witty way. It forces you to confront the nature of reality, how we know what we know, and how we can trust what we know.
So what have we learned from all of this?
Well, I hope you’ll take away that symbol and substance are both critical to the human experience. Each plays a role, but not the same role.
Words matter.
But not always. And not always in the same way.
At Rule No. 1, we are inspired by this debate. We love words. Why else would we write this unbelievably long essay?! We believe in the power of words — well written — to illuminate and inspire.
But when it comes to business and organizational life, words are never enough. Words must lead to action.
And in our work we see far too many examples of purpose and values being used cynically or thoughtlessly — written beautifully as if to convey a genuine commitment but without actually committing.
How many times have you experienced this in your work? How many times have you read the beautiful words of your organization’s purpose and values and wondered why those ideals were not manifest in your daily experience? How many gorgeous purpose and values posters and videos have you seen that made you think your organization was far more interested in making posters and videos than they are in taking meaningful action? How many times have you listened to your leaders give inspirational speeches only to be let down later when you realized it was all nothing but theater?
That’s what we are committed to fighting against at Rule No. 1. We’re tired of the inauthentic, lazy, and cynical exploitation of purpose and values. Life — and work — are far too important to be left in the hands of the cavalier.
If you’re also tired of this, if you believe — as we do — that purpose and values are critical and that they must be acted on, not just declared, then we are here for you. We hope you will enjoy our attempt to shine a light on this phenomenon in a more creative way.
