Physics of Language

Physics of language:

there is a well remembered quote from the spiritual text A Course in Miracles that states “let’s not forget, however, that words are but symbols of symbols, they are thus twice removed from reality” — I keep this in mind through my own use of words, reminding myself that what I write is only a representation of the reality I wish to convey and will never quite capture the essence of the vision I put forth. But I don’t completely hold the same opinion of distance from words to reality that the Course holds. I believe that words have an alchemical quality to them, transformative in their affect on those who read them, and although they remain symbols, they vibrate with the very same essence of what they wish to convey. It’s the physics of a single word or well used phrase.

the physics of language.

the argument is that no matter how descriptive the language used by Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn, we still remain seated in our room, far removed from the Mississippi’s flow, never actually feeling the power of the river as it meets an oar. Or as Alan Watt’s famously said, ” you can’t get wet from the word water.” What’s Watt’s is saying is that no matter how powerful the language, it is never the actual substance of its description. Thoughts only represent realty, not being the actual thing at all.