The Existential Problem of Paper (I. Anderson)

Non-verbal methods of communication and expression have existed since the dawn of mankind. The origin of stringed and wind instruments for the accompaniment of song can be traced to the descendants of Cain. The ancient Phoenicians and Greeks used tablets of stone and clay to write on, and then the Egyptians developed papyrus. Now we live in a world where the printed word is available on paper at the click of a button. All these methods have been tried and proven over centuries, yet the fact remains that as a part of a fallen order they are all flawed. Paper can be lost, burned, crushed, stained, shredded, and sliced. These maladies however plague all physical things in our world, and therefore cannot be attributed to paper as uniquely existential. The existential problem with paper lies not in its molecular makeup or the process in which it is made, but rather the words and thus the ideas it is capable of conveying.

 Language is a tool, and paper is one of the mediums through which it is used, and therefore paper is only as powerful as the words printed on it. Edward Bulwer-Lytton stated, “The pen is mightier than the sword”, nowhere is this truth seen more clearly than in the words of scripture.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

Words as tools are capable of destruction or healing, of conveying truth or nursing deception. History has proved the strength of the written word over and over. The writing on the wall described in Daniel lead to the fall of one of the greatest empires in history, the writings of Rousseau laid the groundwork for the bloody French Revolution, and the Communist Manifesto created ripples in our society that continue to define our culture today. The existential problem with “paper” lies in the weakness of our own human nature, and flawed intellect, yet through that same medium which over and over has proven deadly in the hands of the wicked, God has given us the most profound and solid truth, His Word.


-I. Anderson