"Writing is often associated with lastingness. As Jan Assmann notes, the state is a mechanism not only for amassing power but also for assuring immortality. Its means include canons, temples, libraries, laws, and schools of reading."
In this passage from John Durham Peters’ “The Marvelous Clouds,” he is discussing the power of writing. Words can be extremely powerful, and that power increases exponentially when those words are written. The idea that “writing is often associated with lastingness” highlights the power of writing as a means of immortalizing words. Spoken words only exist in the instant they are spoken. Written words can last forever. Memories can pass down through generations, connecting people who have never actually met. Authors can build a legacy for themselves through the words they write. Libraries carry billions of words all combined in different ways to convey an intended meaning. That one building can hold all knowledge from the past and the present. Writing is the most powerful tool in the world because it is the most common method of passing down information.
I agree really strongly with this passage. I think it is so important to immortalize people and ideas, and I have a deep appreciation for writing as a means to do that. This passage reminds me of past readings for a Jewish History class I took. Those readings gave insight into how and why certain Jewish traditions exist today. I am Jewish, so reading about my religious and cultural history was so powerful and made me feel so much more connected with ancestors than I was before. A major theme I noticed in these readings was the power of the Torah. It was fascinating to me how one book could hold so much information on a group of people. The fact that so much history could be recorded through writing things down is the reason the Jewish faith continues to flourish today. Without those words having been written down, those beliefs and traditions may very well have died with the people who started them. Writing them down is what has created the immortality of the Jewish faith, despite every attempt to erase them throughout history.
I am extremely close with my family, and after reading this passage from “The Marvelous Clouds,” I have noticed the way writing has impacted those relationships. I know so much about family members who died before I was born or when I was too young to really remember them. They may no longer be with us physically, but I still feel an eternal connection to them because of things I have read about them. My family has a photo album with generations worth of photos, many of which have detailed descriptions and stories alongside them. These stories are written so beautifully that I feel like I was around to experience them, creating memories in my mind that I don’t actually have. I strongly feel that people cannot truly be gone if their essence is able to be captured through writing.
Writing is the closest thing the human race will ever get to immortality. The simple act of putting pen to paper and expressing one’s mind creates a lasting legacy. Writing makes ideas, knowledge, cultures, and people last forever, and that is an incredibly powerful thing.