# 300: After Language
Story behind the Passage
One of the supposedly most sophisticated things that make us human is also one of the most limiting things: verbal language. I am writing “supposedly most sophisticated” and “verbal language” because, of course, the more sophisticated we truly are, the more we know that we know close to nothing about the workings of the world. Especially people working with animals or with their own senses a lot, for example, know that it is stupid to claim that humans have a more sophisticated language than other species. Still, we think so and people have written about the limitations of this, particularly linguists, for centuries. The need to express oneself in words is closely connected to the way we think. As humans, we have the ability to think about ourselves as well. So, that also shapes our language and the need of expression.
Who knows for certain that other species do not have that degree of reflection?
In any case, I regularly think about language as the timeless and insoluble limit of our being when I experience the moments of knowing deep down inside that it is failing me. I am not whining about this. I mean “failing me” in the sense of “failing everyone.” I am deeply convinced that everything we are perceiving and thinking about these perceptions is so much “richer” than what comes out of our mouth; let alone being understood fully, which is a completely different and vastly more complicated thing. So, what I am writing about is a human problem that I am convinced, we can never quite resolve. What we can do to resolve or at least alleviate the problem, however, is to accept that human beings are capable of sensing and thinking things that cannot be expressed in a fragmented manner and which still are relevant for our human interaction and social co-existence.
All this does not solve my personal speechlessness. In fact, it is even more brutal to reflect on it and be stuck in the trap at the same time. Even writers face this challenge constantly, even though, like the Olympic athletes, language and its use is the discipline which you are most trained in. In addition, you also become awre of the possibilities and limitations of particular languages you are using. Historically, there are so many languages that are much “richer,” in the sense of more refined and nuanced, than English. I would count German among it. But maybe that is just because it is my native tongue. Still, what I am saying is that at least the urge to express yourself might be satisfied a bit better if you have more words and consutructions available. It is like being a painter. It gives you more liberty to paint your vision of the world if you have more colors. You are not forced to use all of them but you can.
So, in the end, language is a choice like anything else in life. If what I am writing is true, i.e., that the use of language will never lead to true satisfaction if your goal is to really communicate the complexity and diversity of your thinking, why start “perfecting” it at all? I think, the irrational mechanism behind this is something that makes us human as well: hope. Even against all odds, human beings are equipped with this progressive drive, which might be called curiosity, that makes us move forward in the hope that some kind of better life is waiting somewhere, even if there is no “empirical evidence” whatsoever.
It is like the afterlife in most religions.
You know you will never have any proof of its existence while alive.
Still, it makes your life happier and ideally more fulfilled if that prospect accompanies you.
My Learnings
Language,
You beautiful mystery.
You are my friend,
On most days.
I love your sound,
The clicking on the keyboard.
I get goose bumps when people speak.
Words are everything,
In a world that cannot stop talking.
Peace derives from knowing,
That most words are in vain.
Seeing what matters,
In the bulk of words,
Is a gift that nourishes.
But it also separates.
At some point,
You have to choose,
I guess.
Do you want to be heard,
Or do you want to express?
The two are different.
The first is easy,
The last is impossible.
I often cry about language.
It separates thought from life.
Many people never notice.
Most people never care.
The sadness prevails for thinkers.
Writing is an outlet.
But it changes nothing.
Understanding humans is the reward.
Accepting their limitations is the risk.
Language is evil,
It can hurt more than stones.
The blow hurts once,
Words stay and ache.
Without language,
There would be no history.
Would that be bad?
“I see this in your words,”
The engineer says.
“I see that your text,”
The artist says.
Both are blind,
But they do not know.
Language cannot tell.
Education cannot teach.
Where is the place,
That thrives on these thoughts?
Where are the people,
Who go beyond binaries?
Humans long for humanism,
It is in our nature.
Language brings division,
And brands it on thinking.
Then thinking rules,
And unity is lost.
So what is left after Language?
Reflection Questions
1) Was there ever a moment in your life when you thought that your language failed you? How exactly did it feel?
2) Which language(s) would you like to learn? Why?
3) Imagine you were dumb, i.e., not able to speak, would you be able to work in your profession? If not, which alternative occupation could you imagine working in under these circumstances?