JULY 27 ― "(When it began) I had nothing to say...” Practically the first verse of Linkin Park’s hit single, Somewhere I Belong, is the declaration by the singer that he had nothing to say.

That’s a clue. We must avoid the mistake of listening to the band’s songs ― not least the great ones like Numb, Points of Authority, In The End, etc. ― for their meaning.

Meaning isn’t their forte, their purpose, their point. It is not that these songs lack meaning; it is that they incline towards sense instead.

We don’t buy Linkin Park CDs for the lyrics; heck, whoever buys modern music for that? It’s the spirit which matters, the energy and honest beyond the words.

It’s Sense over Meaning. And, Linkin Park ― embodied by its lead singer Chester Bennington who died last week ― oozes it.

Meaning refers to the categories society fosters on everybody; Sense is what everybody produces on their own. Meaning cannot be divorced from power; Sense is (almost literally) all-natural and innate. Meaning didn’t always exist (at least not in its present forms); Sense is primordial.

If you’ve read this far and you’re confused, maybe it’s because you’re still searching for the meaning of these words. But if you can sense what I’m getting at, your confusion should fade. Or maybe not.

Meaning implies expectations, obligations, protocols, rules; Sense is about intuition, feeling, the "something there” which escapes arbitrary types and groupings.

Meaning cannot tolerate nonsense; but Sense is more patient. Meaning demands outcomes and results; "Sense asks for stillness and acceptance.

"Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme, to explain in due time”

This is why to be condemned as "meaningless” is to be cast outside the realms of accepted socio-political narrative. We struggle hard to remain coherent, cogent, logical ― all whilst sacrificing the sense of something more.

So we remain correct, right and upright ― these are what Meaning craves. But we also miss the authentic, the warmth, the deep, all of which resonates better with Sense.

I’m guessing many young people find this a challenge; there’s an impression (a sense?) that they’ve almost given up on meaning. Hence, the retreat (or advance?) into rhyme, games, movement, "connection”, 25/7 media and so on.

Like that’s the language they prefer, the quasi-meaning they want to communicate with. All this "I am Right, You are Wrong” stuff cramps their style. Makes them shut down, plug in deeper into their headphones and ― tragically for some ― jump off buildings.

They’ve become so numb.

This is probably why a member of "they” ― a girl in Form 2 ― was the one who introduced me to Linkin Park more than a decade ago. "They” are hurting, "they” are in pain. Chester Bennington’s death, in a sorrowful manner, may reflect the very pain he was trying to help others out with via his music. 

For critics to proclaim a movie or song "meaningless” is to question its existence, its right to exist, to suggest that the item is better experienced as negated.

I reckon we often do that with our children as well, don’t we? We demand this and expect that of them. We thrust our Meaning on to them, smothering their Sense/s.

So often the pain reaches a stage where the only thing a young person wants to say is, "I’ve got nothing to say.” At which point we demand that he explains himself.

The modality of Meaning has already failed him and we (all-knowing folks) nevertheless shove Meaning into his face and expect him to reproduce it, at the point of a gun.

Science, education, religion, law, politics ― all these promote the need for Meaning, for always being right. God knows we won’t show mercy to our opponents, folks who dare possess alternative views.

Of course, as Chester Bennington has been screaming at us, "You like to think you’re never wrong!”

Meaning is taken, is owned. Sense is constructed from within. This has meaning; but that makes sense.

"But all the vacancy the words revealed”

Meaning is oppressive, but there’s hope. The vehicle of meaning, words, don’t just sit there. Thankfully, scandalously, words have a life of their own. The guardians of Meaning think they possess words. But no. It doesn’t always work that way.

Because, a la Somewhere I Belong, words "reveal vacancies.” That’s Park-speak for the fact that words punch a hole in reality. So necessary when that same reality becomes unbearable, unlivable.

Powerful people wield words to keep others under power, but language and discourse have an ace up their sleeves: They reveal how empty "mere words” are, thereby indicating a deeper reality than what formal Meaning has to offer.

When a lady who does nothing but talk and talk and talk, she shows you something that only Sense can detect. When a guy screams and shouts, he reveals a truth about himself that eludes especially him. 

Likewise, when politicians and VIPs say, "Let’s cut the bullshit,” and "Jokes aside” the subtle power of words should warn you that everything else from that point onwards is bullshit and a joke.

And when it comes to a band like Linkin Park ― whose songs many "matured” people may regard as plain noisy, meaningless and anarchic ― the hope is that the world will hear something beyond the words.

Folks like Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington "had nothing to say” in the beginning. Then they "let it all out” to find that the abyss emerging from the words was "the only real thing” they could feel.

Did you get that? The vacancy, the hole, the void is the only real thing. Stick to Meaning and that phrase will only come across as nihilistic and empty. Go with Sense and perhaps something more will emerge.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.