In the Merriam Webster dictionary a blank slate is referred to as tabula rasa.  In Sanskrit, Tabula means a blank slate.  Rasa is the essence of something.  So, I guess it sort of follows that Merriam-Webster would use this term as the definition of the phrase, “blank slate.”   But I found it a bit odd, since Sanskrit isn’t exactly a language that most Americans would speak or even identify with.  I know, I know, that’s a dictionary for you, always using other languages to explain our own.

And then I found the English Learner’s definition just a bit further down the page as an explanation of the term.  So if you are considered an English Learner, you find the definition to be:  

: someone or something that is still in an original state and that has not yet been changed by people, experiences, etc.

: something that does not show or express anything

How strange for a dictionary to provide an inferior, (in my opinion) definition to a native speaker.  Oh well.  On to the topic at hand.

My favorite example of a blank slate is  the condition of newborn babies.  They are truly little blank slates, completely free of any outside motivation or prejudice.  These little human beings are perfect, untouched by any negativity.  They embody an intelligence that has yet to be exploited by any human interaction.  They are tabula rasa in essence.  They are not yet influenced or sullied by those biases of the adults around them.  Their minds are totally unblemished.  

So what other examples of a blank state are there?  An empty page to be written on is one.   But another way of thinking about this term is to consider it an opportunity for learning something new.  Find a topic of interest you have always wanted to learn about, but haven’t ever pursued.  Each time we endeavor to learn something new, we start with a blank slate in that subject.  It’s like a fresh sheet of paper waiting to be written upon.  An exciting way of increasing knowledge is to have blank slates with the things you’ve yet to discover or accomplish. And as each one becomes filled with new facts and ideas, blank slates can become incentives to make life more interesting and enjoyable.  And isn’t that a wonderful way to fill our time, by writing our own book of knowledge acquired through filling blank slates with wisdom?