clarity is the quality of being clear — free of obscurity in thought, expression, or perception, so that what is meant or seen can be grasped without confusion.
The word reached English around 1300 as clarte, through Old French from Latin claritas, "brightness, splendor," built on clarus, "clear." Its first English senses were radiance and glory, and those meanings have since fallen away; the sense of clearness — of color, of judgment, of style — took hold in the fifteenth century and is the one that survives. Etymologists trace clarus to a root meaning "to shout," a path from sound that carries to light that spreads.
In use, clarity names three related conditions. Clarity of expression is writing or speech that admits only the intended reading. Clarity of thought is knowing what one believes, wants, or intends well enough to act on it. Clarity of perception is literal: clear water, a flawless gemstone, a sharp image through a lens. The word is often confused with 📝simplicity, but a complex idea can be stated with clarity and a simple one can be muddled; it is also distinct from certainty, which is confidence about an outcome rather than understanding of what is in front of one. 📝The Complexity Cover describes the common failure mode in which seeking clarity becomes a reason to delay a decision that is already clear.
"Clarity is the space between 📝scarcity and [the 📝infinite]." ~ 📝Lawrence Lanoff
I practice 📝journaling every day in 📝MythOS, and the common thread of that practice is reflection as a tool for clarity. 📝My Glasses handle the literal kind; I got my first pair at eleven.