tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post1428446961244290508..comments2023-12-30T17:31:11.883+00:00Comments on The Solitary Walker: We Are Stardust, We Are GoldenThe Solitary Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-11060221403078425382008-07-13T16:05:00.000+01:002008-07-13T16:05:00.000+01:00W. also famously said, didn't he, "Whereof one can...W. also famously said, didn't he, "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent" and "There is indeed the inexpressible. This shows itself; it is the mystical".<BR/><BR/>Meaningful language, both speech and the written word (and also facial expression, gesture, music etc, which are all kinds of "languages"), is unbelievably important, primary to the human experience, and we interpret and interact with the world through it.<BR/><BR/>But, in the above quotes, W. points to another dimension of human experience, a spiritual or mystical one, one beyond language.<BR/><BR/>But of course, as you hint, all we have is language itself in order to express, albeit inadequately, the ineffable. The mystical writers - whether it's St John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, T. S. Eliot, Rilke - all attempt this (by definition) impossible task.<BR/><BR/>And,sublimely, and paradoxically, may get quite close to their aim. But of course it remains always just out of reach. One is left in the end with speechless wonder, with Zen satori moments, with the Buddhist 'Om'.<BR/><BR/>Yes, as you say, Zen deliberately examines language as a technique to 'get beyond' language - in koans, for instance.<BR/><BR/>I think Emily Dickinson is quite wonderful. Loren Webster, in his excellent blog "In a Dark Time" (which I link to on my blogroll), has some pertinent things to say about her.The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-20834601577745357622008-07-13T13:16:00.000+01:002008-07-13T13:16:00.000+01:00Wittgenstein said: "The limits of my language are ...Wittgenstein said: "The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for." (I've not read him - I just like the quote). <BR/><BR/>One of my favourite words is anthropocentric. We want to feel that we are, in some way, "significant", but then "significant" is only a word that we have invented to describe an attribute that is important to us. <BR/><BR/>Perhaps significance or the lack of it is (as you describe disappointment) "[a] wrong idea, and a uniquely human idea." <BR/><BR/>It can seem rather commonplace to go on about the meaning of words like this, but I think it can help us to think about what you describe as that "peculiar, mystical, electromagnetic" level of existence. Zen makes deliberate use of it.<BR/><BR/>Isn't Emily Dickinson awesome?Dominic Rivronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02618013365521035400noreply@blogger.com