LANGUAGE

What a wonderful thing is language. Where would we be if we were unable to communicate with one another using words? When you move to a foreign country, like I did, you discover quickly that life can become very frustrating and lonely until you acquire a working knowledge of the language of the country where you now live. Then comes the process of learning the new language and trying to practice, practice, practice, until you become reasonably proficient. Even then, I find myself all too often translating mentally, what I hear into my native tongue, which slows the process of communication considerably.

Think of the advances in human understanding language has enabled. Were it not for language, and particularly writing, each group would have to discover new aspects of our world independently. Thanks to the written word, new discoveries and inventions quickly become the property of all humanity. So it is with ideas. Because of language and printing (and these days the computer) ideas can be circulated to immense numbers of people almost instantaneously. Then each can decide for himself whether the new idea is for him or her or not. Unfortunately, this immensely speedy and widespread distribution of information is frequently misused by those wishing to control the minds of others and generate pre-determined emotional reactions to events and ideas. Because so many of us are mentally lazy, this process is made all the easier.

However, I believe there is a much more insidious disadvantage to language and its use in communication than that. Language of necessity is limited; even the English language which has more words in it than any other, I understand, imposes quite severe limitations upon our ability to communicate EXACTLY what we mean in any given situation. Take a simple example; trees. Our many earthly languages each have a word for tree and then sub-divide that into various types of tree as defined by botanists. However, just as no two human beings are exactly the same, so it is with trees. How can we describe these subtle differences? The answer is we cannot and as a result language persuades us to lump many things together under a single heading. Thus we obtain a very partial and unrealistic picture of the world as it actually is.

To understand further what I mean take the example of a person who owns and dotes upon a pet dog; say a Bassett Hound. There are thousands of Bassett’s in the world and to a casual observer, they each look identical, except perhaps that some are a slightly different colour than others. Yet the owner of the pet on which she dotes, is able to tell her wonderful Basset apart from any other. How can she do this? There are a hundred and one subtle things that go towards recognition of a particular animal (or human being if it comes to that) and none of them can really be explained satisfactorily in words! We just “know” don’t we? It is not just us either of course; the dog knows its owner among a thousand other humans and it cannot speak any language!

By classifying everything in such restrictive and narrow ways, language blinds us to the subtle and vital differences between creatures, plants and objects that outwardly seem so similar. We become conditioned in other words. It has been instrumental I believe in the spread of intolerance and its use by megalomaniacs to target particular groups for genocide. Language is also an unwitting champion of materialism. Its arbitrary divisions and classifications focus our minds almost exclusively upon material life and make little allowance for our extensive, though hidden, inner life. How often do people who have undergone intense and mystical experiences that have filled them with joy and wonder, say, “There are no words to describe my experience”? How do you put into words the feelings you have when you experience some outstanding natural event; one that takes your breath away? The sudden and inexplicable surge of joy as you gaze around you from a mountain top, or the beauty of a small island appearing suddenly ahead of your ship in the early light of dawn?

Before any of us can use words to describe a thing, we have to engage in the process of thinking and we are told for instance, that in the spiritual worlds, communication is by thought transference, telepathy, not spoken words. Thus language becomes superfluous. This also explains how mediums can receive information from people in spirit who did not speak the medium’s own language whilst on earth. Is it too much to suppose that before language was invented, humanity also communicated by telepathy; that it is an inherent ability we have allowed to atrophy because language has made us stop using it? I believe that to be so and as a result our full and joyous appreciation of the beautiful world around us has been stunted. Only occasionally and then not everyone, are we able to break down the sight limitations language has imposed and see the true beauty of life expressed in colour and light.

If we once acknowledge as a species, the true limitations language has imposed upon us, we will become free and the world will be a much happier place because it will be easier for everyone to see the true reality and much more difficult for unscrupulous people to “pull the wool over our eyes.”