Seeming, Being, Meaning

I'm enjoying a wonderful vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Here's a picture of me and my girl standing at a place called the South Point, which is the southernmost point in the United States (apparently, Key West folks don't like it when you say that.)

Well, being on vacation cuts down the blogging, at least for me.  But that doesn't mean stuff isn't rattling around in there all the time, right?

Then, this morning, I was catching up on my feeds and read Hugh's post of yesterday.  And I chuckled, because I'd been thinking about some of those same things while here.

Remember the old adage: "things aren't always what they seem"?  That adage is especially true today.

We live in a time when "seeming" has become more important than "being."  Presenting images (portraying things that seem-to-be something) is the stuff of modern selling.  You know, dress up what you are as something else, and then tell people that you're what you're dressed up as, not what you are.

Complicated?  Not really.

Take the Hard Rock Cafe.  Listen to what that name tells us about what this place is.  First of all, it's a "cafe."  Brings up all the images of a small, intimate place where people can relax and enjoy something together.  But this cafe isn't just any cafe, it's a "hard rock" cafe.  That means that the people who get together there are going to spend time listening to some serious rock 'n roll music, dancing, partying, doing the things people do when they "get down" at a place that's all about two guitars, a bass and a drum.

OK, that's what it seems to be by calling itself the "Hard Rock Cafe."  But, what is it?

A fast food joint and a T-shirt stand.  Here's their menu.  Cafe food, right?  And they sell all kinds of stuff.  Oh, and they also have hotels and casinos.  Ever seen any kind of "cafe behavior" going on at a Hard Rock?

And then I compare that with this:

This is Kilauea.  It's real.  It is what it says it is: a volcano.  It doesn't have to "seem" to be anything.  You go there and you know you are in the presence of something unique, something that is what it says, and has very special meaning.  Being there is an amazingly powerful.

But so is being in a cafe that really is about hard rock. 

If we're truly moving into an age in which meaning will become more important than seeming (and I believe we are), then each of us will need to get much better at ignoring the things that simply seem to be something and focus on those that mean what they say, and that are what they say they are.  That's when the people doing the selling will realize that they better re-think their approach.

But it won't be easy.  We've all gotten lazy.  We too easily mistake the "seems-to-be" for the  "really is."  And that cheapens life and the meaning of things.

And, on the other side of the fence, those folks at the Hard Rock have lots of T-shirts and chicken fingers to sell.  They're not all that concerned with meaning at the moment. 

They will be.

Comments

[Jon Husband]

On vacation doesn't slow down your thinking or observation, it seems ... and I mean that ;-)

[Tom Guarriello]

Many thanks, Jon...just recharging whatever batteries I have left!

[Peggy]

Connectivity. Luck me. You recharge and i get energized. Thanks for letting the stuff that rattles around out again....your partner.

[Tom Guarriello]

How nice of you to leave a note, Peggy! Miss you...see you soon.

T&K

[Johnnie Moore]

Couldn't resist quoting that great branding consultant, Bill Shakespeare:

Seems, madam! Nay, it is; I know not ‘seems.’
’Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forc’d breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected haviour of the visage,
Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief,
That can denote me truly; these indeed seem,
For they are actions that a man might play:
But I have that within which passeth show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

Right on Tom.

[Tom Guarriello]

My goodness, The Bard on TrueTalk!

Many thanks, Johnnie!