Suggestion or Statement?

I recently made the comment that a suggestion is often better than a statement. It was one of those moments—fairly rare in the life of an introvert—when I felt the words come out of my mouth before I had thought them through. Afterward, I kept hearing myself say: A suggestion is often better than a statement. It felt right, but what did it mean? My intuition grasped it before my mind.

A suggestion—like a hint or a clue—elicits curiosity, mental engagement, and emotional response, inviting discussion and participation. The follow-up to a suggestion is often: “What are you suggesting?” On the other hand, a statement is settled business, and much like a proclamation, statements are intended to end discussion and debate—close it down, shut it off. Case closed.

Suggestions are powerful because they raise questions and prepare the way for a flow of memories, thoughts, and ideas. A thin cotton curtain blowing in an open window, animal tracks in the snow, a leaf lying all by itself on a rock, a single bird's feather lying on ground—such images, whether presented visually or literarily, toy with one's thoughts and imagination. And imagination—both personal and communal—need I speak of its importance in the life of an individual and a society?

The exercise of imagination is dangerous to those who profit from the way things are because it has the power to show that the way things are is not permanent, not universal, not necessary. —Ursula K. Le Guin

Art—in all its varied forms—is never a statement; it is always a suggestion. There is always more to art than what meets the eye. Art offers a hint and entices the viewer to finish the story . . . in their own way, using their own imagination, drawing from their own personal experiences. 

There it is . . . the power of suggestion.