Word Magic

We each have a singularly unique way of seeing the world (see "Which window is yours?"),though only a few of us will ever take the opportunity to identify, or be able to fully grasp, our own perspective. This is because a person’s exclusive worldview is never personally obvious and even when discovered, is seldom accepted without argument.

The best way to begin “seeing” one’s own worldview is to understand the deeper meaning of one’s very first memory. No matter how brief or cryptic a person’s earliest recollection may seem to be, a treasure of information is always concealed. Every word and every phrase has importance.

As an example, J.K. Rowling’s brief early memory gives us her worldview.

My most vivid memory of childhood is my father sitting and reading The Wind in the Willows to me. I had the measles at the time, but I don’t really remember that. I just remember the book.

Rowling recalls a specific incident in which her father sits and reads The Wind in the Willows to her when she is sick with the measles. Interestingly, she uses 5 of the mere 37 words in the memory to point out that she doesn’t “really remember [having the measles].” Her mention of this so-called “non-remembrance” suggests its greater significance to the memory’s overall meaning.

Perhaps you can recall being carried away by the words of a magnificent story read with expression by a caring family member or teacher when you were a child. As for me, I remember hearing the story of Robinson Crusoe read by our fourth grade teacher. For a few minutes everyday, and until the book came to its inevitable end, I became one with Robinson Crusoe’s adventure. Nothing else really mattered. All my fourth grade worries seemed to disappear.

Unlike Rowling, however, my specific experience of enjoying the adventures of Robinson Crusoe is prompted by Rowling memory and therefore does not hold the same importance for me as Rowling’s memory does for her. This difference is important.

When asked about an earliest memory, Rowling names a moment in time when the words of The Wind in the Willows, as read by her father, transport her from the discomfort of the present moment to a world of mysticism, adventure, morality, and camaraderie. Unconsciously, she makes special note of this experience, thereafter bringing the recollection to mind innumerable times over her lifetime. We know this to be true, because without rehearsal, memories just fade away. Thus, from the millions of early childhood moments she might have recalled, Rowling is able to name this one incident as "most vivid."

Of interest is that Rowling began writing the first book in the Harry Potter series in 1990, when her mother was suffering with multiple sclerosis. Her mother died in December of that year. According to Rowling, “I was writing Harry Potter at the moment my mother died. I had never told her about Harry Potter.”

In 1992, Rowling married a Portuguese television journalist and the couple had one child the next year, after which they separated in December 1993. According to reports, Rowling was diagnosed with clinical depression and contemplated suicide that same year.

In 1995, Rowling finished the first Harry Potter fantasy novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997), while surviving on welfare. Initially rejected by twelve publishing houses, the manuscript was eventually published by Bloomsbury, a small publishing house in London, England.

In the U.S., Scholastic Inc. won the rights to publish the novel and changed the title to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (1998). Six wildly successful Harry Potter novels followed, leading Harry Potter to become a global brand worth over 15 billion dollars.

Thus, with a worldview of words make the world bigger, Rowling continued recording her imagination via words on paper, suggesting to us the utility and magic of writing in her life. In childhood, an occurrence of the measles was made insignificant by the words of The Wind in the Willows, and as an adult, putting her own creativity on paper distracted her from the reality of many painful situations, including her mother’s illness, her own divorce, her depression, and living on welfare, among others.

Moreover, by creating the Harry Potter series, Rowling has given millions of children (and adults) an avenue by which to alter their own consciousness, in addition to the fact that she has enriched her own life and lifestyle beyond measure. Yes, words have made her world demonstrably bigger.

Incidentally, how big is your world?