In previous posts, I talked about how we’re born into this world in a state of oneness, still aware of our pure connection to the All-That-Is.
Now it’s time to take a look at how we are, quite literally, talked out of this state.
Yes, language—and specifically the ways in which culture uses language—plays a huge role in this huge loss.
How?
By what can seem the best of intentions. Because it’s commonly held that the ability to communicate through language is what elevates us above all other life forms, we believe complex human culture wouldn’t exist without language. After all, we use language to transmit and receive information, ideas, emotions, and experiences. It’s how we’ve come to categorize and understand the world around us. Language is also critical in forming and maintaining social relationships, and in shaping culture and society. It sure seems that language is what allows us to operate in this world, and to feel connected and understood by each other.
But, in reality, language is the first spell cast over us that begins to separate us from the All-That-Is.?
When we remember that language is only a representation, a placeholder for actual reality, we come to understand that language, by the very nature of what it is and how it operates, has to separate us from that reality.
Let’s consider a tree.
There is the reality of the existence of the tree, and then there is the image symbol (mental picture) for the reality. We’re once removed.
And then there is the sound symbol (spoken word) for the image symbol, for the reality of the tree. Now we are twice removed.
Then there is the line symbol (written word) for the sound symbol, for the image symbol of the reality. Now we are three times removed.
There is the thought that combines the image and word for the tree with learned information. Four times removes
And finally, there is the stored memory of the tree that includes all these layers as a shorthand way to think about the tree. Five times removed.
Every time we’re thinking of a tree, we’re looking at a reflection of a reflection of a reflection of a reflection of a reflection.
And yet, this hall of mirrors has been normalized as a legitimate stand-in for reality. So much so that nobody even thinks about it. We don’t ever consider how many times we’ve become removed from the direct experience of the tree, in the present.
Before we go any further, please know, I understand the value of language and I’m not suggesting that it be eradicated. It has its role to play, and it’s an important role. But it should come with a warning label: Possible side effects include losing touch with our ability to achieve a sense of full awareness about who we truly are and why we are here.