Relationship between Thought, Reality and Language: The actors of our creative capacity
- 2018
"Language has created man more than man into language."
-Jacques Monod
Let's talk about a topic that I find exciting: the relationship between Thought, Reality and Language .
Many times we have heard that the power to change our life is in us . Again and again we read about the power of the mind . We also know that much of what happens in our lives is caused by ourselves.
At the same time we read about the importance of abandoning the position of control over our destiny and accepting what life has for us . That we cannot force events to happen. What is the meaning of all this? Which of the two statements is true? Which one is wrong?
Well, there are many currents that support both one statement and the other, with the same basic strength. Is a communion between the two concepts possible? Could they both be operating in reality at the same time?
For those interested, I attach a note from Professor Àngels Varó Pera, where the topic is covered in depth.
Something is clear, is that this relationship between thought, language and reality is close . Although to get a clear idea of this we must ask where is the limit between each one.
The role of Thought: What do you see?
When you think about the relationship between thought, reality and language, you have to understand that each of these occupies a different role . But first and fundamental, as always, define the words we are going to use.
We agree that thought is the result of a mental process . In this way we elaborate the concepts and relationships that structure the experience .
We know that a tree is a living being because we have a clear concept of a tree and understand that it meets the condition of having life. Now, we also know that there are millions of types of trees, but thanks to a process called abstraction, we can extract from our perception of a particular tree a series of characteristics that we will use to put everyone in the same category. Trunk, cup, texture : it is a tree.
This process also acts on more complex concepts. Categories such as good, bad, truth, god and universe are also created from this process .
Then, the abstraction process is responsible for ordering the world we perceive so that we can access your information without much effort. In that way, our behavior and life experience will be arranged according to these concepts that we elaborate with the thought.
Now, if our experience of life is structured by concepts that are directly or indirectly our creation, are we capable of shaping it?
The answer to this question is related to perhaps the most important creative tool of the human being: language .
The role of Language: How you describe it
Within the relationship between thought, reality and language, this is the tool that unites them . Language is nothing more than the words with which we structure our discourse and our thoughts. You think with words, don't you?
However, this is a much more complex tool than would be expected with the naked eye .
When we talk about language we must understand that each person is born in a certain context . This is composed, broadly, by family, other relationships, geographical location and historical time. This context is the first fundamental factor in the creation of language . Each person has their own physiological and genetic characteristics that alter the perception of their surroundings, which is another factor. And using the experiences that he is acquiring throughout life, he is creating a dictionary of new concepts to categorize the world, which is the third and final factor of this list.
I say creation because language has changed and changes constantly, since it is not different from all other things that exist in the material universe .
These three factors in combination have the ability to take a simple and concrete concept, such as a tree, and attach acquired and formed meanings thanks to all these variables.
If you fell from a tree when you were a child, the concept of a tree may have the category of danger to you. If you grew up in a hippie community, you may have a brother's. That is, it ceases to be simply trunk, cup and texture. It goes on to admit categories such as good, capital, plague, beautiful, or anything else. The possibilities are endless.
Thus, we create a reality based on these contaminated concepts . But reality is beyond that, beyond us. It's not like that?
The role of Reality: How it is
We could say that all these complex processes are inherent to the human being. But the truth is that not only the human being learns to recognize patterns and act accordingly. Dogs learn to react to their master's whistle when they relate it to food .
However, people have the ability to question those categories if they wish. Those who come to doubt the categories that they themselves print on things, have before them the possibility of enriching their life experience.
If the tree from which you fell as a boy gives you oranges all summer five years later, you might think " Hey, the trees are not so bad after all ."
In the same way, if you start to learn from your mistakes, you could create an experience of the world in which you don't see your mistakes as a cause of frustration and anguish, but a possibility of growth .
You might even understand that life is not easy, that it is not your fault that not everything is rosy. Imagine how much lighter you could feel.
It makes sense, but then why do we feel victims, helpless or overcome by life?
The answer could be that there is not always a clear situation in which the limitation of your thinking is demonstrated. And so we are completely sure that our thinking is the truth about reality .
Most likely, you will never approach a tree again and that way you will not face a reality that surpasses your conception. Maybe you keep avoiding and denying your mistakes, and your life experience is scarce. You may forever believe that there is something wrong with you .
Well, this is where we can do something about it.
Relationship between Thought, Reality and Language: The Power of the Mind
If we depend on a particular event in our experience to doubt the thoughts that structure our experience, we run the risk of never changing our way of seeing the world . We cannot be at the mercy of our own limitation.
In all this relationship between thought, reality and language, what is our true power?
Are you ready? Here it goes:
The alternative is to question our beliefs . All of them.
If we get used to taking our thoughts and listening to them carefully, we can detect those categories that have every object, person or situation in everyday life with some value .
If you think you are really in touch with the truth, you have to know that according to studies, about 90% of the memories we keep when we reach adulthood are the product of our invention . Our personal history is totally modified by us in the fact of being told. That is the creative power of language .
Doubt those truths. Who knows, you may end up improving them and even reaffirming them in greater depth. That process is what leads us to really know what we believe in.
Or maybe you realize that not everything is as it seems . That life is mysterious and complex, and that we can forgive, learn, grow and move on.
I know from experience that it is not easy to put this into question to question our bases. But I also know that as this is practiced, the gears of this mental process are increasingly oiled.
With time and effort, we can reshape our thinking, conceptualization and abstraction processes.
Or we can continue as we come, of course. But let it be our decision, not an imposition of fate.
No one is more or less victim than anyone.
But only some exercise the humility of questioning their beliefs to broaden their life experience.
It is your decision.
AUTHOR: Lucas, editor of the great family of hermandadblanca.org
SOURCES:
- https://www.nodo50.org/filosofem/spip.php?article132
- Thought, Language and Reality by ngels Var Pear
