Writing

Long ago, writing was a rare and privileged skill, accessible only to a select few. Both Egyptian and Chinese pictographic scripts reflected this exclusivity. Recording words on marsh reeds, stone, turtle shells, or bamboo required tremendous effort and meticulous preparation before any ideas could be expressed.

Writers could not transcribe every word exactly as spoken because there were neither enough people nor resources to do so.

As a result, writing was forced to distill only the most essential points. Gestalt thinking facilitated this process, enabling writers to convey the essence of their message rather than every detail.

Therefore, writing — which captured only the central idea — remained the domain of a privileged minority. Teaching what could be omitted while preserving understanding required considerable skill. For example, Egyptian script included only consonants, and the knowledge of the omitted vowels was deliberately kept from outsiders.