quiXilver Posted January 26, 2017 #26 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Odd, I just mentioned Quine's Word and Object in another thread and it's also really appropriate here. I got into his book when I was spending time meditating and ruminating on how our thoughts form... in the mind, they often have words to them. I hear them being spoken in a sense. Really interesting to me is how does the language we learn, affect how we think? This was first brought to my attention when I was studying spanish in high school and there were times I would dream in spanish instead of english and the flavors of the dreams were seemingly affected. This got me thinking, how much of our language determines the style and consistency of our thoughts and thinking? Folks interested might get some mileage out of Quine or some of his related peers, if interested. Peace 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarMountainKid Posted January 26, 2017 Author #27 Share Posted January 26, 2017 1 minute ago, quiXilver said: Odd, I just mentioned Quine's Word and Object in another thread and it's also really appropriate here. I got into his book when I was spending time meditating and ruminating on how our thoughts form... in the mind, they often have words to them. I hear them being spoken in a sense. Really interesting to me is how does the language we learn, affect how we think? This was first brought to my attention when I was studying spanish in high school and there were times I would dream in spanish instead of english and the flavors of the dreams were seemingly affected. This got me thinking, how much of our language determines the style and consistency of our thoughts and thinking? Folks interested might get some mileage out of Quine or some of his related peers, if interested. I think the language we learn has a lot to do with the way we think and perceive ourselves and the world around us. I also think culture is significant. For instance, in Western societies we may consider we were made, but in China and Japan people would consider they grew biologically out of the natural world. These are two quite different perspectives. In Christian societies we are meant to dominate the earth, in other cultures we are meant to live in harmony with nature. In many languages there are terms that do not exist in English. Descriptions, thoughts and emotions that cannot easily or exactly be translated into English. In my view, the origin of though is pre-linguistic, then the mind translates the thought as well as it can into language. Alan Watts said there are many people who spontaneously become enlightened. He says this is what happened to the man Jesus, and the only way he had to express this was through the culture he new, Judaism. This got him into trouble. Watts said if Jesus had been born in India as a Hindu or Buddhist, he would have been accepted as another wise man and would have had no problems assimilating himself into that culture. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplybill Posted January 26, 2017 #28 Share Posted January 26, 2017 1 hour ago, StarMountainKid said: I was attending a classical music concert outdoors in Chicago one warm summer evening and was sitting quietly in my chair by myself until almost everyone else had left. I noticed an old woman walking along the aisle toward me. She stopped before my chair and smiled kindly down at me. I don't recall if I was looking depressed or lonely or what, but she said in her old woman voice thoughtfully with real sympathy and compassion, "Sometimes we lose our personality, but it always comes back," and then she walked on. I've given it some thought, and I think maybe your writing style allows the readers to 'fill in the blanks' themselves. You don't describe the scene with too much verbiage. In other words, you're not leading the readers, you're engaging the readers' imaginations and letting the readers tell the story to themselves along with you. It's a two-step process that perhaps engages the creative side and the cognitive side of the reader's brain at the same time. In both the bus story and the concert story I was picturing how the women were dressed and how their voices might sound, and I wasn't distracted by long descriptions of the scene. I think that's why I found both stories interesting, because I felt like I was a part of the story-telling process. That's how it appears to me anyway. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarMountainKid Posted January 26, 2017 Author #29 Share Posted January 26, 2017 58 minutes ago, simplybill said: I've given it some thought, and I think maybe your writing style allows the readers to 'fill in the blanks' themselves. You don't describe the scene with too much verbiage. In other words, you're not leading the readers, you're engaging the readers' imaginations and letting the readers tell the story to themselves along with you. It's a two-step process that perhaps engages the creative side and the cognitive side of the reader's brain at the same time. In both the bus story and the concert story I was picturing how the women were dressed and how their voices might sound, and I wasn't distracted by long descriptions of the scene. I think that's why I found both stories interesting, because I felt like I was a part of the story-telling process. That's how it appears to me anyway. Exactly what I try to do. When I write my poorly written fiction, I like to leave some to the reader's imagination. Leaving some mystery in the story. This may be one reason why my stories are so short, a lot of them just one page long. Another reason is, I'm not good at writing description, I like writing dialogue or thought processes. In a few stories I don't even know what's going on. I think this comes from my liking of Kafka. I mostly write ideas, not so much conventional stories, an idea expressed in story form. Well, I don't to brag on myself, the little writing I've done is very amateurish and just something I do for my own fun, just a hobby. I don't take it all too seriously.. . . 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Merton Posted January 27, 2017 #30 Share Posted January 27, 2017 8 hours ago, StarMountainKid said: I guess I could reply with, no doubt you are out of your depth and should get into something else. I don't tolerate ignorant questions well, and I have no intention of getting into a debate with a person who knows almost nothing. My word you are an arrogant SOB. You obviously don't know what you are talking about either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarMountainKid Posted January 27, 2017 Author #31 Share Posted January 27, 2017 31 minutes ago, Frank Merton said: My word you are an arrogant SOB. You obviously don't know what you are talking about either That's almost exactly a quote from you responding to one of my posts on another topic. I just thought I'd bounce it back to you. You didn't like it, either. Now you know how I felt. Actually, I liked your post that I wrote that quote of yours to. My point is, I don't think members here should be rude to each other. There are more constructive ways to voice one's opinions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Merton Posted January 27, 2017 #32 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I have no remembrance of the context of the exchange, but, knowing myself, I am pretty sure whatever I said was deserved. Don't bother responding as I won't read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiXilver Posted January 27, 2017 #33 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I love Watts. His insight and ability to bridge to the East was such a gift for our culture and for me personally. Good stuff. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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