Elements Of The Subconscious Mind Pt. 4 Language of Thought and Perception

There is a direct dichotomy between belief and understanding that is conveyed to us by the use of language. The English language is not solely a group of rules and structures we use to communicate; instead it offers a framework for perception. It does not function because it dictates rigid rules and definitions of words and sentence structures, it's power and brilliance is in that it allows words to mean many things in shifting contexts, and many words have similar definitions, but depending on their use may express opposite meanings. The lessons of grammar and spelling, syntax and speech we teach and learn in class are only the most bare bones beginning of understanding the language's use as communication. Perhaps the rough equivalent to learning how the pieces are moved on a chessboard.

There is a next level of development of mental structure inherent in the use of language in a deep and ongoing fashion, through literature, poetry, comedy, drama, journalism and all sorts of technical applications. Maybe most important is reading above all else, for the eye to mind transfer and reinforcement of meaning. As we reach a point of perception that all things in our world are connected to one another, this does not mean that we know all of the answers, though we may wish that we did. But given to thought and questioning it becomes more difficult to accept simple solutions to complex problems, particularly those of a political nature. In politics we are herded into belief that one party or the other offers a solution because we feel the problems are too complex and intricate to be worth our effort to sort them out for ourselves. Remember that life is composed of an endless string of fine distinctions

Mrs. Kwakk Kwakk   Language of Thought and Perception

Although many people think in different manners; pictorially, auditory, even olfactory: the majority of us think in terms of abstract symbols we call words. For this reason language is so important for making our way through our lives. Because we think in forms of language there is a direct correlation between our thought and our communication. Of course most of us also have pictures stored in our minds; faces, friends, family, pets, cars, houses etc., but it is largely by our faculty with language that we can share these images with others. For many the use of language becomes insufficient and they must turn to the various Arts for expression.

To go from an idea in our mind to an expression of language or another artwork is an abstraction. Any sentence, paragraph, book, song, painting, sculpture, computer program, business plan or perhaps every human expression deviates to some extent from the intentions of the person or persons who created it. The previous sentence is an example. All are abstractions, so therefore when we read, view, hear or use these abstractions we only approach, or possibly exceed the creator’s intentions. Always there is something left out, some deviation (for better or disappointment). This is true of even the most practiced writers, artists, musicians or technicians, and is an absolute of humanity. When we read any sort of text seeking authoritative answers, we find instead only variables that are yet to be affirmed or factored out of your current best understanding.

Around the world languages have many forms and structures. Linguistic structures and vocabulary may usefully be studied as abstracts without taking the trouble to learn them conversationally. There are numerous alphabets of various totals of characters that generally denote sounds.  The Sumerians, Hittites, Minoans and other ancient cultures had rough cuneiform and token systems, largely for government and commercial purposes, but indeed bits of literature and poetry survive from these cultures; and their languages. Egyptians famously had hieroglyphics by which they recorded Royal lineages, history and culture in tombs and on public structures. The form made hieroglyphics only marginally useful on a tactical level, perhaps because scribes were fairly limited in function.

Bless their hearts the Greeks emerged with the first tactically useful alphabet (Phoenicians aside for much the same reasons as the Egyptians) made so by the broad education within Greek society, the utility of the phonetic alphabet, rigid sentence structure and conjugation of verbs that made precise and specific instructions and communications possible both verbally and in writing. All this allowed the Greeks to excel in commerce, governance, literature and war. The ancient Greeks are remembered for many things, and it was the language and structures of language that made it all possible. 

With Latin came a bit more flexibility but still sweet precision, and soon the Romans ran around the Mediterranean Sea. Each succeeding country that arose to conquer, flourish, and eventually fall: did so in large part with the functionality and the utility of its language. Without a wish to pick a fight the author asserts that to date the English language the most versatile and tactically useful language yet to emerge from human thought. This is not to assert that English is culturally superior, or that other languages are in any other way inferior for every purpose of thought, conversation, literature, poetry etc. Only that English language structure allows the ability to express more exactly and precisely one’s intentions, questions, descriptions and instructions both verbally and in written form than any other language. The problem is that expression and comprehension are two different things in any language.

The distortion of abstraction is a key societal problem in the United States. The sweet complexity of the English language is taught so poorly here, and with no pretext or subtext to help students to be interested in it before deconstructing it in their texts to one another. Far too many have no clear understanding of its complex function. Worse, we sow misunderstanding in every miscast sentence, ill chosen vocabulary and shuffled preposition. It is a breakdown in our educational system that English is taught instead of learned. Like every reality it is dependent upon perception.