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"creation seems to come out of imperfection. it seems to come out of a striving + a frustration, + this is where i think language came from. it came from our desire to transcend our isolation + have some sort of connection with one another. + it had to be easy when it was just simple survival. like the word water, we came up with a sound for that, or 'saber tooth tiger right behind you!', we came up with a sound for that. but, when it gets really interesting is when we use that same system of symbols to communicate all the abstract + intangible things that we're experiencing. what is frustration? or what is anger? or love? when i say love, the sound comes out of my mouth + it hits the other person's ear, travels through this byzantine conduit in their brain, through their memories of love, or lack of love, + they register what i'm saying + they say yes, they understand. but, how do i know they understand, because words are inert, they're just symbols, they're dead, you know? + so much of our experience is intangible. so much of what we perceive cannot be expressed--it's unspeakable. + yet, you know when we communicate with one another, + we feel that we've connected, + we think that we're understood, i think we have a feeling of almost spiritual communion. + that feeling might be transient, but i think it's what we live for."
waking life
the problem of language
waking life
the problem of language