Human currently use nearly 7000 spoken languages on the planet earth. The encyclopaedic inventory of them is called the Ethnologue and it is written and published by the not-for-profit, faith-based, linguistics organization SIL International (all quotes in this paragraph are from their website http://sil.org). SIL is in many ways a remarkable organisation and SIL's Ethnologue: Languages of the World, "is a comprehensive catalog of the world’s more than 6,900 living languages." But language, and the sounds, words, meanings, and rules that comprise it, are part of, as well as a reflection of, the culture that created and uses that language. And so the Ethnologue is "a veritable guide to the world's … languages and cultures, providing a bounty of sociolinguistic and demographic data in addition to linguistic information (ACRL, C&RL News, March 2005)." In short, SIL has found that "studying these languages results in practical help for local people and contributes to the broader knowledge of linguistics, anthropology, and ethnomusicology."
Language and culture are intimately linked. Language is a reflection of how a culture "sees" and "experiences" the world. I grew up in Ohio and we basically had two words for "snow" -- "snow" and "slush". But Eskimos, who live in a world where snow is a predominant feature, have more than 100 words for snow (http://www.mendosa.com/snow.html). Language enables creativity and communications, yet it does so by enforcing constraints manifested through those sounds, words, meanings, and rules that comprise it. And those creativity unleashing constraints also constrain our perception of reality. In other words, word and language comprise a "model" of the world that we use to comprehend and communicate our experience of reality. But the words are not reality any more than the map is the highway or the word "water" is wet. Stephen Hawking, the astrophysicist, summed it up beautifully when he said "All we ever know is our models, but never the reality that may or may not exist behind the models …. Our models may get closer and closer, but we will never reach direct perception of reality." (Nature, Dec 2000, 775.)
Recently I came across a Zen master's way of expressing this same concept: "Suppose the mind consciousness is observing an elephant walking. During the time of observation, the object of mind consciousness may not be the elephant in and of itself. It may only be a mental construction of the elephant based on previous images of elephants that have been imprinted in store consciousness. Inquiry means not using the mental creation, but allowing yourself to get in touch, and to try to see how things truly are. We practice not to be influenced by the name, because when we are caught in the name we can't see reality." – Thich Nhat Hanhin (in “Zen Lessons in Market Analysis” by John P. Hussman, (http://www.hussmanfunds.com/wmc/wmc091011.htm).
The purpose of this blog is to help us all, myself included, rely a little less on those "mental creations" of words, models, maps, and the like, and thereby allow ourselves to experience life and each other a bit more fully so we can "get in touch, and to try to see how things truly are." Often that results in merely modifying, enhancing, or expanding our repertoire of mental creations, and in so doing hopefully we get a little bit closer to reality and to each other. Human communication is a strange, wonderful, and highly imperfect combination of science and art form. It's not always easy, but generally very rewarding when I remember that words are models too, and as such are imperfect, imprecise, and yet very, very useful.
All we will ever know is our models.
